IMAGE: Italy’s Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani bite their gold medals at the Olympics Tennis Women’s Doubles victory ceremony at Roland Garros stadium, Paris, on Sunday. Photograph: Violeta Santos Moura/Reuters
Italy’s Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini beat Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider 2-6, 6-1, (10-7) to win Olympic gold in the women’s doubles tennis on Sunday.
Russians Andreeva and Shnaider, who were competing as neutrals, took the opening set but had to settle for silver after the Italian pair fought back.
“(It’s) not easy after the first set, just wanted to do better in the second set. It’s so important… we gave everything and we got the gold medal,” Paolini said.
“Obviously we were struggling in the first set, in the end we made it great,” Errani added.
Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and Sara Sorribes Tormo beat Czech pair Linda Noskova and Karolina Muchova to win the bronze medal.
IMAGE: Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani celebrate victory. Photograph: Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports/Reuters
Errani, the 37-year-old former doubles world number one, became the seventh player to complete the career Golden Slam in women’s doubles having won all four majors and the Olympic title.
Errani also became the oldest player to win an Olympic tennis gold, snatching the record that Novak Djokovic, one month her junior, had claimed two hours before by winning the men’s singles final.
It was Italy’s first ever gold medal in an Olympic tennis event, a day after compatriot Lorenzo Musetti defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime to win bronze in men’s singles.
Italy’s only previous tennis medal at the Olympics came at the 1924 Games in Paris, when Uberto de Morpurgo won bronze in men’s singles.
Andreeva, 17, became the second youngest player in history to win a medal in tennis at the Olympics, after Jennifer Capriati won the singles gold in Barcelona 32 years ago at the age of 16 years and 132 days.
The Russia pair were happy with their silver on their Olympic debut.
“We are proud of it. We could do better but first time, we are happy with the result,” Shnaider said.
