Siniakova/Machac win thrilling mixed doubles final to claim Olympic gold

Czechs Katerina Siniakova and Tomas Machac defeated China’s Xinyu Wang and Zhizhen Zhang 6-2, 5-7, 10-8 in the Summer Olympics mixed doubles final, winning the gold medal on Friday night in Paris.

It was a thrilling finale to the event, with Wang/Zhang coming within two points of victory.

The victory is the Czech Republic’s first gold in Paris this year across any event. It is also Siniakova’s second gold medal, with the Czech winning the women’s doubles alongside Barbora Krejcikova at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The silver medal will be a tough pill to swallow for Wang/Zhang, after the duo held a dominant position in the match tie-break. 

Having dropped the opening set, the Chinese pairing powered back into the match with some high-risk, high-reward tennis, making 31 unforced errors but claiming 25 winners as well. They quickly raced out to a 3-0 lead in the match-tiebreak, and led 8-6 before Siniakova/Machac won four points in a row to secure the gold medal. 

Earlier in the tournament, Siniakova/Machac stunned No 1 seeds Lara Siegemund and Alexander Zverev 6-4, 7-5 in the opening round of the tournament. They then saw off Japanese duo Ena Shibahara and Kei Nishikori 7-5, 6-2, before overcoming Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and Felix Auger-Aliassime to make the final.

Wang/Zhang had walked a tighter path to the gold medal match. The Chinese duo edged Brazil’s Luisa Stefani and Thiago Seyboth Wild 3-6, 6-3, 10-8, before ousting No 2 seeds Ellen Perez and Matthew Ebden in the quarter-finals 6-7(8), 7-6(8), 10-5. Most recently, they also went the distance against Dutch pairing Demi Schuurs and Koolhof Wesley, winning 2-6, 6-4, 10-4 to make the final.

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