Mardy Fish and Nicolas Massu: Not the two guys expected to be playing for a gold medal in the Olympic tennis tournament today.
The unseeded Fish came back for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 semifinal victory on Friday over No. 16 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, who upset US Open champion Andy Roddick in the third round.
PHOTO: AP
Fish will play No. 10 Massu, a 7-6 (5), 6-1 winner against Taylor Dent in another US-Chile match.
The women's gold medal match has a far more predictable flavor: No. 1 Justine Henin Hardenne vs. No. 2 Amelie Mauresmo.
Won once
Neither Fish nor Massu has been past the third round at a Grand Slam tournament or been ranked in the top 10. Fish has won only one event, at Stockholm last year; Massu's four career titles all came on clay.
Their matchup makes for a fitting finish to a men's tournament in which No. 1 Roger Federer and No. 2 Roddick lost early.
"I'm sure we'll be nervous in the beginning. I'm sure whoever pulls it out in the end will be nervous,'' the 22nd-ranked Fish said. ``At the end of the day, I think I can settle for a silver medal, but I definitely want the gold."
He can only hope he doesn't have to work as hard as Croatia's Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic did to win their bronze medal in doubles. They outlasted fifth-seeded Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes of India 7-6 (5), 4-6, 16-14 in a match that lasted nearly four hours.
Chile's never won a gold medal in any sport at any Olympics, and the nation could win three in tennis in one weekend: Massu and Gonzalez will play in Saturday's doubles final against Nicolas Kiefer and Rainer Schuettler of Germany. That will be after Gonzalez vs Dent for the singles bronze.
In the women's semifinals, Henin-Hardenne of Belgium rallied from a 5-1 deficit in the third set to beat Russia's Anastasia Myskina 7-5, 5-7, 8-6 in a nearly three-hour match between the past two French Open champions. France's Mauresmo advanced by defeating unseeded Australian Alicia Molik 7-6 (8), 6-3.
Out with a viral illness, Henin-Hardenne hadn't played since she lost in the second round at Roland Garros in May while trying to defend that title.
Doubles
In the women's doubles semifinals, Li Ting and Sun Tian Tian of China beat Paola Suarez and Patricia Tarabini of Argentina 6-2, 2-6, 9-7, guaranteeing China its first Olympic tennis medal.
Li and Sun face No. 2 Conchita Martinez and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain for the gold today. The Spaniards were 6-3, 6-0 win-ners over No. 5 Shinobu Asagoe and Ai Sugiyama of Japan.
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