Nicolas Massu of Chile won his second gold medal of these Olympics by beating Mardy Fish of the United States 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a four-hour men’s singles tennis final last night.
Chile had never won an Olympic gold medal in any sport until Massu and Fernando Gonzalez won the doubles title in match that lasted more than 3½ hours and ended early Sunday morning. And Massu was back on court 14 hours later to take on Mardy Fish in the singles final, prevailing in another classic match.
“The best two days of my life,” said Massu, “That’s it. It’s just amazing.”
Neither finalist has ever been past the third round at a Grand Slam tournament or been ranked in the top 10. They entered Sunday with a combined total of five career titles, just one for Fish.
Indeed, it’s the first time Massu has won a tournament played on hard courts. He was 0-7 this year on the surface before winning six straight singles matches at the Olympics.
Massu proved he is one of the fittest men on the tennis circuit after playing a total of 24 hours, 43 minutes over 11 matches, including doubles.
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Throughout the rest of the match, Massu would buy time by crouching or stretching - even sitting on a line judge’s chair after one long point. Twice, he raced up for drop shots and, when the point ended, grabbed ahold of the net and leaned over, as if looking down into a well. Any chance to catch his breath.
“Maybe he was playing a little cat-and-mouse in the beginning,” Fish said. “I just don’t understand how someone gets less and less tired, keeps going hour after hour. I’m in pretty good shape, and I was getting tired there at the end.”
OTHER RESULTS
Men’s Doubles Final Gold medal match: Fernando Gonzalez (Chi) & Nicolas Massu (Chi) bt Nicolas Kiefer (Ger) & Rainer Schuettler (Ger) 6-2 4-6 3-6 7-6 (9-7) 6-4
Men’s Singles Final Bronze medal match: (16) Fernando Gonzalez (Chi) bt Taylor Dent (USA) 6-4 2-6 16-14
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