Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and
Andrey Rublev won the Mixed Doubles Olympic Gold Medal by defeating Elena Vesnina and
Aslan Karatsev 6-3 6-7(5) and 13-11.
An all-Russian affair in the Mixed Doubles final between Pavlyuchenkova and Rublev and Vesnina and Karatsev ended with favourites winning it. The first set saw a better start from the underdogs as Karatsev and Vesnina were able to take an early break 2-1. However, Rublev and Pavlyuchenkova came right back to make it 2-2. After that, they upped their intensity and took a 4-2 lead which they held for the rest of the set clinching it with 6-3.
The 2nd set saw a heated battle between two very evenly matches doubles teams. Karatsev and Vesnina did well to fend off some early break points after which they settled in nicely. Neither team had break points again until late in the set when Karatsev and Vesnina had set points.
They failed to use them but in the end, prevailed in the tiebreak winning it 7-5. They held a 4-1 lead before it became 5-5 but they held their nerve. Some of that momentum carried over into the match tiebreak with Vesnina and Karatsev taking a 2-0 lead.
They were able to hold that lead for the majority of the match tiebreak but a late rally by Rublev and Pavlyuchenkova gave them the 9-8 lead. They did not use that match point but they would get another one at 12-11 but this time it was on their serve. And they converted it winning the gold medal.
