Athletics centre-stage as Phelps seeks more gold

The Olympics glamour sport of track and field made an electrifying start Friday as Michael Phelps prepared to chase down his third gold medal of the Games in the pool.

Roger Federer endured the longest three-set singles match in tennis' Open era when he beat Juan Martin del Potro in a contest lasting four-and-a-half-hours to reach the singles final.

An unprecedented sell-out crowd of 80,000 packed the Olympic Stadium for the opening morning session of the athletics, as British golden girl Jessica Ennis made a blistering start in the heptathlon.

With a vociferous home crowd roaring her on, Ennis clocked the best time ever recorded in the 100m hurdles discipline.

The 26-year-old flew over the barriers flawlessly in a superb 12.54sec, shaving 0.25sec off her best and equalling the winning time of American Dawn Harper in the individual event at the 2008 Olympics.

She went on to clear 1.86m in the high jump to put her in the lead after two events of the seven events, with the shot put and 200m to come later Friday.

"I'm still in shock from the hurdles, to be honest," Ennis said. "I can't believe I ran that time. It was a great start."

Two medals will be decided in the evening action, the women's 10,000m and the men's shot put.

Federer looked perilously close to defeat after dropping the first set on Centre Court, but the Swiss world number one finally overcame Argentine's del Potro 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 19-17.

"I don't think I've ever played as long a set in a best-of-three match," Federer said of the marathon deciding set.

He will face either Britain's Andy Murray or Novak Djokovic who face off later.

In the women's draw, Maria Sharapova beat fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko 6-2, 6-3 to set up a gold medal match against either Serena Williams or Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.

The host nation added to Thursday's three-gold haul in early action with a victory for Anna Watkins and Katherine Grainger in the women's double sculls rowing.

History was made in the judo competition where Wojdan Shaherkani became the first woman from Saudi Arabia to compete at an Olympics.

Shaherkani, 16, lasted a mere 82 seconds after a build-up which had been overshadowed by a row concerning her hijab.

The teenager broke down in tears after her defeat to Melissa Mojica of Puerto Rico in the heavyweight competition and admitted she had been overwhelmed by the occasion.

"I was disturbed and afraid at the beginning, it was my first time in a big competition and there was a lot of pressure because of the hijab issue," she said.

"I was not comfortable because I didn't have any experience of big events. It took its toll on me."

At the Aquatics Centre, Phelps will aim to consolidate his position as the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time in the 100m butterfly.

Phelps roared back to form on Thursday with an imperious victory in the 200m individual medley, consolidating his newly-acquired status as the most successful athlete in Olympic history with a record 20th medal.

Serbia's Milorad Cavic said he expects Phelps to romp to another gold.

"Phelps is out of our league," acknowledged Cavic, who was beaten by Phelps in a 100m fly photo-finish in Beijing by one-hundredth of a second.

Elsewhere, Chinese long-distance swimmer Sun Yang stayed on course for a second gold following his breakthrough win in the 400m freestyle with an imperious performance in the 1500m freestyle.

Sun, who became the first Chinese male swimmer to win gold with his 400m free victory, glided into Saturday's final almost three seconds ahead of Tunisian defending champion Oussama Mellouli, with Canadian Ryan Cochrane another three seconds away in third place

The British swimming team's hopes of improving their meagre medal total hinge on the women's 800m freestyle, where Rebecca Adlington attempts to defend her 2008 crown.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/athletics-centre-stage-phelps-chases-more-gold-093543999--oly.html

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