Errani and Paolini write Italian tennis history: first Olympic gold medal comes in women's doubles

Aug 05, 2024 259

Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini win the seventh gold medal of the Italian expedition to Paris 2024, the first ever in tennis. The Italians beat their opponents Andreeva/Shnaider in the final on a comeback, match tiebreak: 2-6 6-1 10-7.

At 37 years and 97 days, Errani completes the doubles Career Grand Slam after winning every Grand Slam test, paired with Roberta Vinci, and Olympic gold, paired with Paolini. Jasmine crowns her dream summer after winning two finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in singles and entering the top5 of the Wta rankings.

Italtennis leaves the French capital with a gold in women's doubles and a bronze in men's singles, won by Lorenzo Musetti Saturday against Auger-Aliassime. The tricolor beats on the Paris Central and closes a week of tennis that will remain forever in the hearts of Italian fans.

The two azzurre started in the worst of ways, two breaks suffered by Errani and Medical Timeout asked by the Romagnola tennis player who left the court three minutes because of a left thigh problem. The two opponents, Russians who, however, are not competing for Russia because they are excluded from these Olympics, No. 23 and 24 in the world in singles, are solid and well matched between net and baseline.

The first set goes 6-2 Andreeva/Shnaider. Errani/Paolini re-entered the court and immediately placed an overtake, immediate reaction. Break balls come in every Russian serve: Italy takes advantage twice more and closes the score in the second partial. 6-1. After an hour and 10 minutes we go to the match tiebreak. Errani professes at the net, Paolini grinds points from the back: the classic pattern allows the Azzurri to go up 7-3, the distance is temporarily bridged at 8-7, but Italy stays ahead until the match point. Victory!

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