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| China's gold medalists Li Ting (L)
and Sun Tian Tian show their medals during the awards ceremony after
the women's tennis doubles gold medal final at Athens 2004 Olympic
Games, August 22, 2004. (Reuters) |
Li Ting and Sun Tian Tian won China's first Olympic tennis medal ever
by beating Conchita Martinez and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain 6-3, 6-3
on Sunday for the doubles gold.
The eighth-seeded Chinese pair hadn't won a title all year, and ended a
four-match losing streak by eliminating 2000 gold medalist Venus Williams
and Chanda Rubin in the opening round.
The doubles silver is Martinez's third Olympic medal - but none is
gold. She paired with Arantxa Sanchez Vicario to win the silver in 1992
and the bronze in 1996.
Martinez and Ruano Pascual had played just one tournament together
before the Olympics, yet they were seeded second.
On Saturday, No 7 Paola Suarez and Patricia Tarabini of Argentina beat
No 5 Shinobu Asagoe and Ai Sugiyama of Japan 6-3, 6-3 for the doubles
bronze. Suarez and Ruano Pascual have won six Grand Slam doubles titles as
a team.
 It's been quite a summer for Chinese tennis. At the French Open
in May, Zheng Jie became the first Chinese woman to reach the fourth round
at a Grand Slam tournament.
Sunday's final was an even bigger moment for the Chinese, but it was
also a sloppy match - with nine service
breaks combined, including in the last two games. The
match ended with Ruano Pascual missing a forehand and then a backhand to get broken for the fourth time.
The Chinese broke Martinez for a 5-3 edge in the opening set, then Sun
served it out, avoiding a break point set up by her double-fault. On set point, Li ended an
11-stroke exchange with a volley winner off Martinez's forehand.
That was part of a five-game run that gave the Chinese a 2-0 lead in
the second set. The Spanish duo broke back to 2-2 on Li's double-fault,
but Ruano Pascual lost her serve in the next game by double-faulting and
making three forehand errors.
The Chinese then broke Martinez to go up 5-2, but Li was broken while
serving for the match. One last poor service game by Ruano Pascual ended
it.
(Agencies) | 
Updated: 2004-08-23 09:01