Rafael Nadal clinched a golden treble to wrap up the Olympic tennis tournament on Sunday, overcoming gallant Chilean Fernando Gonzalez to add the Games men's singles title to his French Open and Wimbledon crowns. The unstoppable Spaniard won 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 to mark his impending rise to the top of the world rankings with his country's first ever Olympic gold medal in tennis. Roger Federer said Nadal “totally deserves” the number one ranking, paying warm tribute to the Spaniard who takes over the top spot on Monday. Before Nadal's fireworks, Russia's Elena Dementieva enjoyed the biggest moment of her career when she won the women's singles gold medal against compatriot Dinara Safina. Dementieva, who's silver medal in Sydney eight years ago prefaced a career of near-misses, battled back to win 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. Vera Zvonareva made it an all-Russian singles podium by beating China's Li Na 7-5, 6-0. American Venus Williams claimed the third Olympic gold medal of her career when she and sister Serena thrashed Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-2, 6-0 in a one-sided women's doubles final. Dementieva has never won a Grand Slam title, but she now has an Olympic gold medal after a gutsy triumph against Safina. China did not go home empty-handed from a tournament that has disproved the theory that tennis players do not care about the Olympic Games. Zheng Jie and Yan Zi beat Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-2, 6-2 to claim bronze in the women's doubles.
