United States players celebrate after beating Canada 8-1 in softball Friday at the Olympics in Beijing. The game was a continuation of a rain-delayed game from Thursday.

BEIJING — The U.S. softball team turned the toughest day of its week-long preliminary schedule into just another display of the myriad ways that it dominates the sport.

First, it hammered Japan, considered the likeliest team to upset the Americans for the gold medal, scoring four times before the first out and hitting an Olympic-record four home runs on the way to a 7-0 victory Friday.

Then, the United States came back to beat Canada in a game that was interrupted by rain on Thursday. Canada arrived with a 1-0 fourth-inning lead Friday, and the Americans left with an 8-1 victory.

This is what passes as a difficult day for a team that has now won 18 games in a row at the Olympics: The Americans beat two of their major rivals, and outscored them 15-0 on the day.

Jessica Mendoza, who is the sister of Alana Dusan, the head softball coach at Mountain View High School in Bend, hit a pair of homers against Japan.

“I think the kids came out today and really wanted to send a statement,” coach Mike Candrea said.

They delivered the message clearly, largely by air mail launched by aluminum bats and the twirling arms of their pitching staff. The rest of the world is not catching up to the Americans, at least not at the Olympics. Team USA still has not lost since the preliminary round of the 2000 Sydney Games, and it has outscored its four opponents here 29-1.

Add in the nine opponents from Athens in 2004, and the scoring ratio has reached 80-2.

His team seems to have monopolized those key ingredients, but set them out for all to see in one unusual afternoon. The strangest part was that so few were here to watch.

Fengtai Softball Field was eerily empty as Canada and the United States took the field. Tickets are sold in two-game sessions — one starting in the morning, one in the late afternoon — and the resumed game was plopped in between.

So fans were ushered out after the United States beat Japan. That left only a couple hundred family members, team officials and journalists in the stands for what had the makings of a philosophical riddle: If the U.S. loses in softball and almost no one is there to see it, did it really happen?

Also on Friday:

Track and field

Tyson Gay coasted through two 100 meter preliminary heats, showing his left hamstring is just fine six weeks after hurting it at the U.S. Olympic trials. He’ll go after the gold medal and the world record this morning.

World record-holder Usain Bolt and the guy he took it from, fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell, also advanced easily to the final 16. All three are expected to make today’s final.

Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia won the 10,000 meters in an Olympic record 29 minutes, 54.66 seconds, while Shalane Flanagan set an American record at 30:22.22 to win bronze. It was the first U.S. medal in the 10K since 1992. Kara Goucher of Portland was 10th in 30:55.16. Amy Yoder Begley of Beaverton was 26th in 32:38.28.

The men’s shot put was a big disappointment for the Americans. Instead of sweeping, they got only a silver from Christian Cantwell.

Tennis

An American won’t win the men’s singles title.

James Blake, the last hope left, lost to Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez, who blew four match points before winning 6-4, 5-7, 11-9.

Blake then accused Gonzalez of failing to concede a point with Gonzalez serving at 8-9 in the final set. On the first point, Blake hit a backhand passing shot long but contended the ball hit Gonzalez’s racket before landing, as TV replays confirmed.

“Playing in the Olympics, in what’s supposed to be considered a gentleman’s sport, that’s a time to call it on yourself,” Blake said. “Fernando looked me square in the eye and didn’t call it.”

Gonzalez said he was uncertain whether the ball hit his racket.

Gonzalez, seeded 12th, will play in Sunday’s final against Rafael Nadal, who beat Novak Djokovic 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 to clinch his first Olympic medal. It was after midnight when Nadal won in dramatic fashion, scrambling to retrieve two overhead slams by Djokovic. The Serb then shanked a third overhead, and Nadal collapsed to the ground in jubilation.

New women’s No. 1 Jelena Jankovic lost in the quarterfinals to No. 6 Dinara Safina, who will play China’s Li Na in the semifinals. The other semi will pit Russians Elena Dementieva and No. 9 Vera Zvonareva.

In doubles, Roger Federer kept alive his hope for an Olympic gold medal, joining Swiss teammate Stanislas Wawrinka to upset top-ranked American twins Bob and Mike Bryan and win a spot in the final.

Federer and Wawrinka will face unseeded Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson today. The Swedes beat French duo Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra 7-6 (6), 4-6, 19-17.

Venus and Serena Williams, both eliminated in singles Thursday, won twice to reach the semifinals in doubles, but Americans Lindsay Davenport and Liezel Huber were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual, of Spain.

And Yan Zi and Zheng Jie of China beat Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina 6-3, 5-7, 10-8, in a match that didn’t end until 3:35 a.m. today. It was the latest known finish at any sporting event in Olympic history, the International Tennis Federation said.

Women’s soccer

Natasha Kai scored on a header in extra time, sending the defending champion Americans into the semifinals with a 2-1 victory over Canada. The game was suspended for one hour and 40 minutes during the first half because of lightning.

Japan will play the United States in the semifinals, while Brazil will take on Germany.

Baseball

The U.S. baseball team is in trouble. They fell to 1-2, lost a key player to an injury and have angered the mighty Cubans by accusing them of dirty play after losing to them 5-4 in 11 innings.

In their first game under a wacky extra-inning format — from the 11th on, teams automatically get runners on first and second and can start anywhere in the batting order — the Americans gave up two runs in the top of the inning, then fell one shy in the bottom.

Shooting

The Emmons family picked up another medal. This time, it was hubby Matt getting silver in the 50-meter prone, an event he won four years ago. His wife, Katerina, who shoots for the Czech Republic, has a gold and a silver from these games.

Women’s volleyball

With China’s president watching, the U.S. team coached by former Chinese star Jenny Lang Ping knocked off the hosts in five sets. The Americans are 3-2 overall, in good shape to advance. China fell to 2-2.

Boxing

Sergey Vodopyanov, the world champion bantamweight, and Raynell Williams, a serious American medal contender, lost Friday night, both saying they were wronged by subjective calls.

Cycling

It was a big day for Britain, with the British beating France for the gold in men’s team sprint and Bradley Wiggins setting an Olympic record in qualifying for the 4,000-meter individual pursuit.

Table tennis

Bronze is still a possibility for the U.S. women’s team, which knocked off Romania 3-1 and moved into a semifinal. The American team features two retired members of the Chinese national squad who immigrated to the United States.

Equestrian

Patrick Lam of Hong Kong jumped a clear round in the show-jumping qualifier in his hometown at the first Olympics equestrian event. Ian Millar of Canada tied a record at the same event for competing in the most Olympics for any individual, with nine since 1972.