Haas in tennis final, Seles takes bronze

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Sydney: Powerful German Tommy Haas, who seriously considered skipping the Olympic Games because of injuries and dismal form, sealed a place in the men's singles final on Tuesday.

Unseeded Haas ensured his first Olympics will be a memorable experience when he beat Swiss teenager Roger Federer 6-3, 6-2 in just 75 minutes.

Haas will now face fifth-seeded Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who recorded a 6-4, 6-4 win over Arnaud di Pasquale of France, for the gold medal on Thursday. Federer and di Pasquale will contest the bronze medal.

Veteran Monica Seles of the United States won the women's singles bronze medal with a ruthless 6-1, 6-4 victory over Australian teenager Jelena Dokic.The women's singles final will be played on Wednesday with American Venus Williams facing Russian Elena Dementieva.

Haas, 22, is aiming to become the first German to win an Olympic men's singles title. But he said he was tempted to drop out of the event after hip and back injuries kept him out of action for most of the northern hemisphere summer and he crashed to a second-round loss to compatriot Rainer Schuttler at the US Open.

"I was thinking about not coming here because I was totally out of shape," Haas said. "To play at the Olympics you need to be 100 per cent fit. I hurt my back again doing weights but I took a few days off, then worked hard and suddenly I found my rhythm. The way I'm playing in this tournament is probably my best performance of the whole year."

Haas has already beaten two seeded players here, 14th-seeded South African Wayne Ferreira and eighth-seeded Spaniard Alex Corretja. His match with Federer was delayed for over three hours by rain and was twice briefly interrupted by showers when it finally got underway.

Medal in the pocket

The German took control from 3-3 in the first set, winning five straight games and establishing a stranglehold Federer was never able to break."So far, so good," Haas said. "It is good to know you already have a medal in your pocket."

Haas, who has been playing tennis since the age of two, enjoys playing on the Rebound Ace courts used in Sydney and reached the Australian Open semi-finals on the same surface in Melbourne in 1999.

The man who beat him on that occasion was the man who went on to win the title - former world number one Kafelnikov, who has said he feels ready to win here after having written off his chances last week.

The 26-year-old Russian got crucial breaks on di Pasquale's serve in the seventh game of each set and won in one hour 18 minutes in cold, damp conditions.

"I'm absolutely delighted," he said. "Before the tournament I didn't expect to win a few matches, but now my confidence has come back. The conditions didn't worry me. I've got to do what I've got to do. I will consider this the best year of my career if I win the gold medal here. That's how important this is to me."

Kafelnikov said he expects Haas to be a tough final opponent despite having a 3-1 career record against the German.

"It will be extremely difficult," he said. "It is not very often you get the chance to play for a gold medal - just once every four years. I may still be playing professional tennis at 30, but probably won't be a medal contender, so I'm treating this as my last chance."



(c) Reuters Limited.