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Seeing double: Croatia tops Croatia in men's doubles final

Mate Pavic of Team Croatia and Nikola Mektic of Team Croatia celebrate victory against Austin Krajicek of Team USA and Tennys Sandgren of Team USA during their Men's Doubles Semifinal match on day six of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Ariake Tennis Park on July 29, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Getty Images)

It took a decisive ten-point tiebreak, but top-seeded Croatian duo Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic capped off the men's doubles tournament with a thrilling win in the gold medal match over the other Croatian duo, Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig.

Mektic and Pavic rolled through the first set, taking three of the first four games against their countrymen and winning 6-4.

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The second set was a different story, as Cilic and Dodig roared back. They split the first four sets before winning the next three to go up 5-2. The unseeded pair won the set 6-3, setting up a ten-point, winner-take-all tiebreak with the gold medal on the line.

It was then that Mektic and Pavic proved why they were the top seed. The pair took the first six points of the tiebreak, none of which were particularly competitive. Cilic and Dodig found a way to claw back, though, and sawed the deficit from 6-0 to 8-6. 

The next point was arguably the best of the bunch - with Cilic and Dodig both coming to the net, Pavic looped a tidy forehand shot over both of them to give him and Mektic three gold medal points.

They only needed one.

Mektic/Pavic won gold as the top seed in the field, while Cilic/Dodig finished a respectable second as an unseeded team.

Daniell/Venus (NZL) defeated Krajicek/Sandgren (USA) to win bronze.


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