In the final of the Olympic tournament, Mirra Andreeva and Diana Schneider, having won the first set in brilliant style, lost to the Italians Sara Errani and Yasmina Paolini in the championship tie-break. A most offensive defeat, but the first medal for the Russians.
The women's doubles final concluded the Olympic tennis tournament program. Neutral participants Andreeva and Schneider entered the court after the historic victory of 37-year-old Novak Djokovic. This was the last chance for the great Serb, and he used it.
Experts agreed that for 37-year-old Sara Errani, the Paris doubles final was also the last chance to win gold at the Games. Together with Roberta Vinci, she collected a career Grand Slam, but her last victory was more than ten years ago. But Errani was unable to prove herself at the Olympics. In London, together with Vinci, they were seeded second, in Rio — eighth, but both times they finished the fight in the quarterfinals.
In Tokyo, Errani played together with Paolini, and got into the Olympic tournament as a reserve. The Italians did not even reach the quarterfinals, losing in the second round to the Ukrainians, the Kichenok sisters. True, three years ago, Paolini was not considered a top player. She acquired this status only in the current season.
After defeating Anna Kalinskaya in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai, Yasmine broke into the top 15 of the rankings, and reached the finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, after which she firmly established herself in the top ten of the rankings. The leaders of the Italian delegation began to purposefully play the Errani/Paolini pair with an eye on the Olympic tournament last year. Together, Sara and Yasmine won hard court competitions in Monastir and Linz, as well as the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome on clay. At the Olympics, the Italian duo was seeded third.
Before the final, experts called Errani and Paolini the favorites, but in Paris, the Russians, who are as old as Errani alone, have already proven that their rivals' experience and titles do not affect them. As the 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Nadezhda Petrova, who lost the Roland Garros final to Errani/Vinci that same year with Maria Kirilenko, noted while analyzing the finalists' chances, the Russian tennis players simply need to use their trump card. After all, Errani is not very tall even by generally accepted standards (only 167 cm), and for tennis she is even shorter. When she comes to the net, she has the opportunity to throw it over and send the ball into an open part of the court.
Yevgeny Kafelnikov emphasized that Schneider will be the driving force of the Russian pair. After all, Diana played for American student teams for a long time, where the doubles combination is a mandatory element. Of course, there were anxious expectations. Nobody expected that the duo, who were playing together for the first time, would reach the final.
Will the girls cope with the excitement and the hype associated with the only medal for the Russian «neutral» team? However, who said that Errani won't be nervous, having received her last chance to become an Olympic champion? And Paolini too.
Errani faltered already in the fourth game. On the veteran's serve, the Russians earned a break point and converted it on the first try. In the eighth game, Mirra and Diana managed to earn a triple break point and won the game on the opponent's serve on the first try. A great start!
But the Italians managed to get back into the game. Schneider had problems with her serve at the beginning of the second game, which Errani and Paolini took advantage of. They made a break in the very first game, and then in the fifth, and in the seventh!
The score in the match was tied, and the fate of the Olympic gold was decided in the championship tie-break. The Italians were a little more precise from the very beginning in the shortened game. Errani was able to realize her Olympic dream, and the sensational silver medalists of Paris still have a long career ahead of them, and hopefully, both Olympic gold and career Grand Slams.
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