Bryan brothers' quest for gold falls short

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BEIJING -- Bob and Mike Bryan can still win an Olympic medal, but it's not the one they were aiming for.The Bryans will play for the bronze medal in men's doubles Saturday after losing 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 to Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland in a Friday semifinal at the Olympic Green Tennis Center."I've got to tip my hat to them," said Bob Bryan after the twins from Camarillo, Calif. lost in 1 hour, 20 minutes, in a match that ended at the stroke of midnight. "They served really tough, especially on the big points. They did everything well."I think Stan's really improved his doubles in the last year, and it's showing out here. We played him a year ago, two years ago, and he was a guy that you could pick on. He's proved that he's a doubles players now as well as a singles player."The Bryans will face Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra of France, who lost to Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson of Sweden in the first semifinal -- a four-hour, 45-minute marathon that ended with Aspen and Johansson winning 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 19-17."It's unusual to come out after a loss," said Bob, "but in order to win this medal we're going to have to turn around and stay positive ... "The Bryans were particularly dominant on their service games in the first set, winning four games at love and losing just three points. But they were unable to convert on three break-point opportunities -- one in the first game and one at 5-5."I thought we outplayed them in the first," said Bob. "Unfortunately, we had all the chances and just didn't get over the top, and they hit some good shots in the (tie) breaker to get momentum. They started playing better in the second, and that was it."Federer and Wawrinka scored the only break of the match to go up 4-3 in the second set. Serve held the rest of the way, with Federer serving out the match and assuring himself of his first medal in three appearances in the Olympics."A medal is a medal," said Federer, asked if it would make any difference if it came in singles or doubles. "... I'm already very proud of our achievements. I think it's almost more fun to win together on the court because you can celebrate it nicely and everything. ..."The doubles, it just proves to myself, you know, what a great doubles player I am, even though I haven't played much lately. I think now having beaten the best in the world, really, and going for gold, it's an incredible scenario. This is a big moment in my career."The Bryans might have reasonably been expected to have a bit of a scheduling edge because Federer and Wawrinka had to finish their quarterfinal match earlier in the day after it was called when Thursday's play dragged to almost 2 a.m. Friday.But any potential advantage was essentially negated by the lengthy semifinal that preceded them on Court 1, and pushed their start time past 10:30 p.m. for the second straight night.(Contact David Lassen of the Ventura County Star in California at dlassen(at)venturacountystar.com.)