SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — With a marathon performance and a jubilant heave of his racket, Yevgeny Kafelnikov capped a marvelous month for Russian tennis.
Kafelnikov outlasted Tommy Haas of Germany 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 for the gold medal in men's singles Thursday, then celebrated by tossing his racket 15 rows into the stands.
"To add a gold medal to my career, it's absolutely fantastic," Kafelnikov said.
Fellow Russian Elena Dementieva won the silver in women's singles. Less than three weeks ago, countryman Marat Safin beat Pete Sampras to win the U.S. Open.
"My country is taking over in tennis," Kafelnikov said. "It has been a very sensational year."
Kafelnikov won a 3-hour, 34-minute thriller that came down to the only break point of the final set. Haas hit an easy backhand into the net to give Kafelnikov a 5-3 lead, and the Russian served out the match at love.
Kafelnikov improved to 5-1 this year in five-setters, including three victories at the French Open and one at the U.S. Open. He learned only after his semifinal victory at Sydney that the Olympic final was best-of-five.
"I said, 'Well, maybe that's good,"' he said. "In best-of-five my chances are a little better than in best-of-three."
The tournament title was the first this year for Kafelnikov, a two-time Grand Slam champion. He was seeded fifth, but had talked of skipping the Olympics because he was discouraged by the way he was playing.
"I thought that I wasn't even going to challenge for any medals," he said. "I was just hoping to participate."
There were four service breaks in the 70-minute opening set before Kafelnikov won the tiebreaker. He landed a crosscourt backhand on the sideline to reach set point, and Haas then dumped a backhand into the bottom of the net.
But the hustling Haas kept coming back and wowed the sellout crowd with several scrambling saves, once blocking a Kafelnikov overhead back for a winner.
Kafelnikov seemed to have the momentum after dominating the third set, but Haas broke to start the fourth set and easily held serve five consecutive times to force a fifth set.
The unseeded Haas, playing in his second final this year, took the defeat well. Like Kafelnikov, he was smiling on the medal podium.
"Going home with the silver medal, I couldn't ask for more," Haas said.