Games over for outgoing World No 1

Top seed Roger Federer was beaten 6-4, 7-6 by American James Blake in the quarter-finals of the Olympic men's singles yesterday.

The Swiss produced an error-strewn display under the Centre Court lights after a long rain delay and was outplayed as Blake claimed his first victory against Federer in nine meetings.

Defeat continued Federer's miserable season and leaves the 27-year-old running out of chances to win an Olympic medal, although he is still in the doubles here.

Last month he lost his Wimbledon title to Rafael Nadal and he will concede his world No1 ranking to the Spaniard on Monday.

Blake said he always believed he could break his duck against the 12-times grand slam champion.

"I always believed in myself," said Blake, who is now just one victory away from a guaranteed medal. "I'd lost to him eight, nine, 10, 50 times, I don't know how many, but I had the feeling it could be my day today.

"He didn't play a good first game and that put me up straight away. I played loose and free and I always fancy my chances on the 5-4 game.

"When he got that net cord I started wondering if it would turn around and he would come back playing like the best player in the world. But I know I can beat the best in the world on my day and today I proved it."

Blake will play either Chile's Fernando Gonzalez or Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu for a place in the final.

Meanwhile, American Serena Williams also suffered a shock quarter-final defeat by Russian Elena Dementieva in the women's singles, going down 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Williams had seemed destined for a collision with sister Venus in tomorrow's gold medal match but her challenge evaporated against Dementieva, a singles silver medal winner at the Sydney Olympics.