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Singles, Men

Date10 – 17 August 2008
StatusOlympic
LocationBeijing Aolinpike Gongyuan Wangqiuchang, Beijing Aolinpike Gongyuan, Beijing
Participants64 from 33 countries
FormatSingle-elimination tournament.

The favorite was Spain’s Rafael Nadal, who was the hottest player on the ATP Tour in 2008, and was poised to displace Switzerland’s legendary Roger Federer from the #1 world ranking. Nadal had recently won the French Open (as he always did) and Wimbledon, and had a 32-match winning streak that was ended at the Cincinnati Open, his final tournament before the Beijing Olympics. Both Federer and Nadal won their first three matches, but Federer was then upset by American James Blake in the quarter-finals. Blake then lost to Chile’s Fernando González in the semis in three sets, while Nadal advanced to the final with a difficult three-set win over Serbia’s Novak Đoković. Đoković was world ranked #3, but was not yet the dominant force in tennis that he would become in the next few years.

González was hoping to match his countryman, Nicolás Massú, who had won the Olympic singles gold in 2004, but the final was relatively easy for Nadal, who defeated González in straight sets, although it was not a runaway, winning 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-3. The next day, Nadal advanced to become the #1 ranked player in the world, displacing Federer, who had been ranked #1 for a record 237 consecutive weeks. In the third-place match Đoković dispatched Blake with ease in straight sets to win the bronze medal.

PosNrPlayerNOC
1–Rafael NadalESPGold
2–Fernando GonzálezCHISilver
3–Novak ĐokovićSRBBronze
4–James BlakeUSA
=5–Roger FedererSUI
=5–Paul-Henri MathieuFRA
=5–Gaël MonfilsFRA
=5–Jürgen MelzerAUT
=9–Tomáš BerdychCZE
=9–Gilles SimonFRA
=9–Nicolas KieferGER
=9–Olivier RochusBEL
=9–David NalbandianARG
=9–Mikhail YuzhnyRUS
=9–Lu Yen-HsunTPE
=9–Igor AndreyevRUS
=17–Rafael ArévaloESA
=17–Andreas SeppiITA
=17–Willy CañasARG
=17–Dominik HrbatýSVK
=17–Nikolay DavydenkoRUS
=17–Kevin AndersonRSA
=17–Marin ČilićCRO
=17–Janko TipsarevićSRB
=17–Nicolás MassúCHI
=17–Victor HănescuROU
=17–Thomas JohanssonSWE
=17–Rainer SchüttlerGER
=17–Agustín CalleriARG
=17–Stanislas WawrinkaSUI
=17–Michaël LlodraFRA
=17–Lleyton HewittAUS
=33–Dmitry TursunovRUS
=33–Lee Hyeong-TaekKOR
=33–Tommy RobredoESP
=33–Yu XinyuanCHN
=33–Robin SöderlingSWE
=33–Fred NiemeyerCAN
=33–Thomaz BellucciBRA
=33–Chris GuccioneAUS
=33–Ernests GulbisLAT
=33–Nicolás LapenttiECU
=33–Komlavi LogloTOG
=33–Max MirnyBLR
=33–Sun PengCHN
=33–Juan MónacoARG
=33–Ivo MinářCZE
=33–David FerrerESP
=33–Zeng ShaoxuanCHN
=33–Steve DarcisBEL
=33–Simone BolelliITA
=33–Nicolás AlmagroESP
=33–Jiří VaněkCZE
=33–Jarkko NieminenFIN
=33–Kei NishikoriJPN
=33–Robby GinepriUSA
=33–Andy MurrayGBR
=33–Devin MullingsBAH
=33–Marcos DanielBRA
=33–Frank DancevicCAN
=33–Radek ŠtěpánekCZE
=33–Sam QuerreyUSA
=33–Jonas BjörkmanSWE
=33–Potito StaraceITA
DNS–Ivo KarlovićCRO1
DNS–Ivan LjubičićCRO2

Round One (10 – 11 August 2008)

Winners advanced to round two.

Match #1 Roger FedererSUI 1Dmitry TursunovRUS 6-4, 6-2
Match #2 Rafael ArévaloESA WCLee Hyeong-TaekKOR 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
Match #3 Andreas SeppiITA Tommy RobredoESP 6-4, 4-6, 8-6
Match #4 Tomáš BerdychCZE 17Yu XinyuanCHN A6-1, 6-2
Match #5 Gilles SimonFRA 10Robin SöderlingSWE 6-4, 6-4
Match #6 Willy CañasARG Fred NiemeyerCAN A3-6, 4-2 (–-–)
Match #7 Dominik HrbatýSVK Thomaz BellucciBRA 2-6, 6-4, 6-2
Match #8 James BlakeUSA 8Chris GuccioneAUS 6-3, 7-6 (7-3)
Match #9 Nikolay DavydenkoRUS 4Ernests GulbisLAT 6-4, 6-2
Match #10 Paul-Henri MathieuFRA Nicolás LapenttiECU 7-6 (7-4), 6-2
Match #11 Kevin AndersonRSA ITFKomlavi LogloTOG WC6-3, 6-2
Match #12 Nicolas KieferGER 15Max MirnyBLR ITF6-3, 6-1
Match #13 Fernando GonzálezCHI 12Sun PengCHN ITF6-4, 6-4
Match #14 Marin ČilićCRO Juan MónacoARG 6-4, 6-7 (6-7), 6-3 (–-–)
Match #15 Olivier RochusBEL Ivo MinářCZE 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
Match #16 Janko TipsarevićSRB David FerrerESP 57-6 (10-8), 6-2
Match #17 David NalbandianARG 7Zeng ShaoxuanCHN A6-2, 6-1
Match #18 Nicolás MassúCHI ITFSteve DarcisBEL 6-4, 7-5
Match #19 Victor HănescuROU Simone BolelliITA 7-5, 3-6, 6-4
Match #20 Gaël MonfilsFRA Nicolás AlmagroESP 116-4, 3-6, 6-3
Match #21 Mikhail YuzhnyRUS 13Jiří VaněkCZE 6-4, 6-1
Match #22 Thomas JohanssonSWE Jarkko NieminenFIN 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
Match #23 Rainer SchüttlerGER Kei NishikoriJPN ITF6-4, 6-7 (6-7), 6-3 (–-–)
Match #24 Novak ĐokovićSRB 3Robby GinepriUSA 6-4, 6-4
Match #25 Lu Yen-HsunTPE Andy MurrayGBR 67-6 (7-5), 6-4
Match #26 Agustín CalleriARG Devin MullingsBAH A6-1, 6-1
Match #27 Jürgen MelzerAUT Marcos DanielBRA 6-7 (9-11), 6-1, 8-6
Match #28 Stanislas WawrinkaSUI 9Frank DancevicCAN 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
Match #29 Michaël LlodraFRA Radek ŠtěpánekCZE 164-6, 7-6 (–-5), 11-9
Match #30 Igor AndreyevRUS Sam QuerreyUSA 6-4, 6-4
Match #31 Lleyton HewittAUS Jonas BjörkmanSWE ITF7-5, 7-6 (–-2)
Match #32 Rafael NadalESP 2Potito StaraceITA 6-2, 3-6, 6-2

Round Two (12 August 2008)

Winners advanced to round three.

Match #1 Roger FedererSUI 1Rafael ArévaloESA WC6-2, 6-4
Match #2 Tomáš BerdychCZE 17Andreas SeppiITA 6-3, 7-6 (7-4)
Match #3 Gilles SimonFRA 10Willy CañasARG 7-5, 6-1
Match #4 James BlakeUSA 8Dominik HrbatýSVK 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-3
Match #5 Paul-Henri MathieuFRA Nikolay DavydenkoRUS 47-5, 6-3
Match #6 Nicolas KieferGER 15Kevin AndersonRSA ITF6-4, 6-7 (6-7), 6-4 (–-–)
Match #7 Fernando GonzálezCHI 12Marin ČilićCRO 6-4, 6-2
Match #8 Olivier RochusBEL Janko TipsarevićSRB 7-6 (7-5), 2-3 (–-–)
Match #9 David NalbandianARG 7Nicolás MassúCHI ITF7-6 (7-0), 6-1
Match #10 Gaël MonfilsFRA Victor HănescuROU 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)
Match #11 Mikhail YuzhnyRUS 13Thomas JohanssonSWE 7-5, 6-2
Match #12 Novak ĐokovićSRB 3Rainer SchüttlerGER 6-4, 6-2
Match #13 Lu Yen-HsunTPE Agustín CalleriARG 6-4, 6-4
Match #14 Jürgen MelzerAUT Stanislas WawrinkaSUI 96-4, 6-0
Match #15 Igor AndreyevRUS Michaël LlodraFRA 6-4, 3-6, 6-1
Match #16 Rafael NadalESP 2Lleyton HewittAUS 6-1, 6-2

Round Three (13 August 2008)

Winners advanced to quarter-finals.

Match #1 Roger FedererSUI 1Tomáš BerdychCZE 176-3, 7-6 (7-4)
Match #2 James BlakeUSA 8Gilles SimonFRA 106-4, 6-2
Match #3 Paul-Henri MathieuFRA Nicolas KieferGER 156-3, 7-5
Match #4 Fernando GonzálezCHI 12Olivier RochusBEL 6-0, 6-3
Match #5 Gaël MonfilsFRA David NalbandianARG 76-4, 6-4
Match #6 Novak ĐokovićSRB 3Mikhail YuzhnyRUS 137-6 (7-3), 6-3
Match #7 Jürgen MelzerAUT Lu Yen-HsunTPE 6-2, 6-4
Match #8 Rafael NadalESP 2Igor AndreyevRUS 6-4, 6-2

Quarter-Finals (14 August 2008)

Winners advanced to semi-finals.

Match #1 James BlakeUSA 8Roger FedererSUI 16-4, 7-6 (7-2)
Match #2 Fernando GonzálezCHI 12Paul-Henri MathieuFRA 6-4, 6-4
Match #3 Novak ĐokovićSRB 3Gaël MonfilsFRA 4-6, 6-1, 6-4
Match #4 Rafael NadalESP 2Jürgen MelzerAUT 6-0, 6-4

Semi-Finals (15 August 2008)

Winners advanced to final round.

Match #1 Fernando GonzálezCHI 12James BlakeUSA 84-6, 7-5, 11-9
Match #2 Rafael NadalESP 2Novak ĐokovićSRB 36-4, 1-6, 6-4

Final Round (16 – 17 August 2008)

Match 1/2 Rafael NadalESP 2Fernando GonzálezCHI 126-3, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3
Match 3/4 Novak ĐokovićSRB 3James BlakeUSA 86-3, 7-6 (7-4)