Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini won Italy’s first Olympic gold medal in women’s doubles, defeating Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider 2-6, 6-1 (10-7) on Sunday. After dropping the first set, the Italians launched a comeback, eventually winning the super tiebreak. “We gave everything and got the gold medal,” Paolini remarked. Errani continued, “In the first set, we struggled, but we made it great in the end.”
Errani, a 37-year-old former doubles world number one, became the seventh player to complete a career Golden Slam in women’s doubles, winning all four majors and the Olympic gold medal. She also became the oldest Olympic tennis gold medallist, surpassing Novak Djokovic’s record established only two hours earlier. Italy’s only prior Olympic tennis medal was a bronze in 1924.
Cristina Bucsa and Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain won the bronze medal after defeating Linda Noskova and Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic.
Meanwhile, Russian adolescents Andreeva and Shnaider were satisfied with their silver. Andreeva, 17, became the second youngest Olympic tennis medallist behind Jennifer Capriati. “We are proud of it,” Shnaider explained. “We could do better, but for our first time, we are happy with the result.”
