Olympics: Ebden and Peers win gold for Australia in men’s doubles

Australia’s Matthew Ebden and John Peers have defeated America’s Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek 6-7 (6), 7-6 (1), 10-8 in the final of the men’s doubles tennis at the Paris Olympics on Saturday.

In doing so, they bag Australia’s first Olympics gold medal in tennis since 1996.

The pair were underdogs heading into the clash, with Ram and Krajicek seeded No.4 and favoured at the leading tennis bookmakers to take out the gold medal.

Gritty display hands Ebden and Peers gold

Ebden and Peers put on a display of grit to overcome their American opposition.

On two occasions, the Aussie duo fell behind by a break.

In the opening set, Ram and Krajicek broke in the fifth game to go up 4-2, but were unable to consolidate their lead.

The set went to a tiebreak, where Ebden and Peers managed to save two set points before succumbing on the third.

In the second set, the Australians also conceded an early break and fell behind 4-2. Once again, they levelled and forced a tiebreak.

This time, they blitzed their way through the breaker, racing away 7-1 to force a match tiebreak that would determine the gold medallists.

With momentum and the crowd on their side, Ebden and Peers started strongly in the deciding tiebreak. The pairing went up 7-2, then held four gold medal points at 9-5.

Ram and Krajicek made matters interesting when they saved three consecutive match points, but much like Ebden and Peers in the opening set, were unable to finish the job.

The gold medal comes as a stark contrast to this time last week for Ebden.

The 36-year-old was called into the singles event as a late replacement, and was thrashed by top seed Novak Djokovic in the opening round, 6-0, 6-1.

On the same court, seven days later, he claimed gold.

Zheng and Musetti prevail on Saturday

Elsewhere in Olympics tennis, both Qinwen Zheng and Lorenzo Musetti won their final matches of the tournament to pick up historic medals for their countries.

Zheng won gold for China, the nation’s first-ever in tennis at the Olympics, defeating Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-3 in the women’s singles final.

“Nothing can describe my feelings right now,” Zheng said on Saturday.

“I was hoping to get a medal for China, and finally I made it – it was a gold medal, I feel I did everything I could, and I hope my country will be proud of me.”

Zheng upset top seed Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals, ending the Pole’s 25-match unbeaten run at Roland-Garros.

Musetti, on the other hand, claimed bronze in the men’s singles. The Italian had fallen to Djokovic in the semi-finals, but overcame Felix Auger-Aliassime in the bronze medal match, winning 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

The bronze medal is Italy’s first in tennis since 1924, and comes off the back of a strong summer for Musetti, who also made the Wimbledon semi-finals in July.

Djokovic and Alcaraz will meet in the men’s singles final on Sunday at 10pm AEST. The Spaniard is a $1.38 bookmaker favourite, having just defeated Djokovic ($3.10) in straight sets at Wimbledon three weeks ago.

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