Roddick Exits from Athens Olympics Without a Medal

No. 2 seed Andy Roddick, the clear favorite for the gold at the Athens Olympics after an early exit by world No. 1 Roger Federer, found himself out of medal contention Wednesday after a 6-4, 6-4 loss to No. 16 seed Fernando "The Flayin' Chilean" Gonzalez.

Roddick attempted to set the tone early with a Babolat barrage, but the Chilean's go-for-broke baseline style trumped the American's best.

"You have to tip your hat to Fernando," Roddick said. "You know he is going to hit some amazing shots, but sometimes it will get away from him a little bit. Today he just played great all the way through. When I saw he was playing offense on my offense, I knew it was going to be a long day."

Other seeds sent home Wednesday were (15)Tommy "The R." Robredo (l. to Federer-killer Berdych 7-6 in the third) and (14)Nicolas Kiefer (l. to Youzhny in three).

Two seeds dodged the upset bug, coming back from a set down in (3)Carlos Moya (d. "Dr." Ivo Karlovic), and (8)Sebastien "The Skateboard Kid" Grosjean (d. Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez 6-0 in the third). Another three-set winner was another Chilean in (10)Nicolas Massu (d. Andreev).

While Roddick is no longer in the medal hunt, two other Americans announced their intentions to stay around for the weekend in un-seeds Taylor Dent (d. Ljubicic) and Mardy Fish (d. Max "The Beast" Mirnyi 6-1 in the third).

"My backhand is the thing that holds my game up the most," said Fish, holding class on the finer aspects of his ground game. "When I'm not playing well, I always have my backhand to kind of back me up. Unfortunately, it's not a huge forehand like Federer has or Roddick has, but it's definitely been there my whole life and it's been a great solid shot for me."

A win on Thursday for Fish or Dent will guarantee them a medal.

All four results in the men's doubles Wednesday were upsets with winners Fernando Gonzalez/Nicolas Massu of Chile (d. (1)Bryan brothers), (WC)Croats Mario Ancic/Ivan Ljubicic (d. (3)Llodra/Santoro 9-7 in the third), India's (5)Mahesh Bhupathi/Leander Paes (d. (4)Black/Ullyett), and unseeded Germans Nicolas Kiefer/Rainer Schuettler (d. (8)Erlich/Ram in three).

On court Thursday in quarterfinal action are (3)Moya vs. (10)Massu (Spaniard leads meetings 1-0), Fish vs. Youzhny (Russian leads 1-0), Berdych vs. Dent (first meeting), and (8)The Skateboard Kid vs. (16)The Flayin' Chilean (first meeting).

Today's doubles semis feature India's (5)Bhupathi/Paes vs. Germans Kiefer/Schuettler, and rolling Chileans Gonzalez/Massu vs. Croats Baby Goran/Ljubicic.