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Laura Pigossi and Luisa Stefani won Brazil’s first-ever Olympic tennis medal on Saturday with a hard-fought win over Russians Veronika Kudermetova and Elena Vesnina in the women’s doubles bronze medal match.
The pair, who were called up at the last minute for the Games, saved four consecutive match points in the deciding tie-break to win 4-6, 6-4, 11-9 after two hours and 11 minutes in the searing heat from Tokyo. . (Tokyo 2020 full coverage)
“She (Stefani) is one of my best friends and being here with her and her believing in my dream, and me in hers, has been the greatest gift for me,” Pigossi said.
TOKYO 2020 DAY 8 BLOG
Brazil has sent tennis players to every Games since the sport was reintroduced to the Olympics in 1988.
Kudermetova and Vesnina, who will also play in Sunday’s mixed doubles final alongside Aslan Karatsev, led 9-5 in the breaker but failed to secure victory.
Pigossi and Stefani, 26, sealed their historic medal with a brilliant streak of six straight points.
Both Pigossi and Stefani are ranked outside the top 300 in singles, although Stefani, 23, is world number 23 in doubles.
The duo have only won $506,245 in prize money during their career and unsurprisingly said they could now play more tournaments together.
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