Juan Martin del Potro continued his scorched-earth march to the Legg Mason Classic final Saturday, blazing past fourth-seeded Tommy Haas 6-2, 6-1 at William J. FitzGerald Tennis Center.
Dinara Safina ran into the corner near the potted flowers to retrieve one ball, then sprinted across the "Beijing 2008" design in the concrete to the other side of the court for the next shot.
James Blake could shrug off the three match points he failed to convert, and even the misfire on an easy forehand that would have given him a berth in the Olympic final.
It was a wretched day for the top seeds at William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center on Tuesday as the tournament's third-, fifth- and sixth-seeded players all lost before nightfall.
Rafael Nadal advanced Wednesday into the quarterfinals at the Olympics, digging out of a hole in a pivotal service game and beating Igor Andreev of Russia, 6-4, 6-2.
Billie Jean King occasionally got hot-tempered on the tennis court, so her father once threatened to take a power saw to her racket in the family garage.
Rafael Nadal took the court at 10:30 a.m. and hit his final shot more than 11 hours later. Roger Federer's first day of Olympic tennis was slightly shorter but just as successful.
