- Belinda Bencic and Victoria Golubek were defeated in the women’s doubles by Barbora Krijkova and Katerina Sinyakova (Czech Republic) 5:7, 1:6.
- The Swiss duo held out well for a long time, but the two candidates eventually prevail.
- For the Swiss delegation, the double silver is the 12th Olympic medal in Tokyo. It’s the second for individual winner Bencic.
Belinda Bencic could not fulfill her dream of winning a second gold medal in Tokyo. The Swiss Oriental lost her double-final match to Viktoria Golubic the day after her singles victory. Czechs Barbora Krejsikova and Katerina Siniakova finally took the lead after a balanced start with 7:5, 6:1 against the Swiss duo.
However, silver is a huge hit for Bencic/Golubic. The two started the tournament with little credit, but were then convinced with a solid performance. Switzerland had already won the silver in the women’s doubles five years ago. At that time Martina Hingis and Timea Baksinski were allowed to climb the podium.
Up to 5:5 narrow box
The semi-finals were clearly defined: on the one hand, world records 2 and 3 from the Czech Republic, who together won 9 WTA championships. On the other hand, the Swiss, who did not play together before the Olympics with difficulty and came out of the top 100 in the double standings.
At first there was no sign of a class difference. Up to 5:5 in the first group there were no service breakouts and only one breakout in total. But then Krisikova/Synyakova had two chances to score 6:5 when Golubic sent. They used the second when a back pass from Golubic sailed sideways out of the way.
Fifth match point is victory
Since then the match has been different. Krejcikova/Siniakova got the first deal 7:5 and immediately pulled away in the second set with a double break to 3:0. It is now clear that the duo understand each other blindly on the field. It also has advantages when it comes to service. But in the case of Bencic and Golubic, coordination problems have been revealed from time to time. In addition, they behaved very incorrectly in volleyball.
The Swiss duo is back to 1:3, but it should just be a flash in the pan. The last three matches went to Krejcikova / Siniakova who, after 85 minutes with a fifth match point, became the deserving Olympic champion.