Pavlyuchenkova, Rublev win all-ROC mixed doubles gold medal match

It was an all-Russian Olympic Committee affair in the final tennis event of the Tokyo Olympics.

The ROC's No. 4-seeded pair Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Andrey Rublev defeated Russian teammates Elena Vesnina and Aslan Karatsev in the mixed doubles gold medal match, winning 6-3, 6-7, 13-11. 

The Pavlyuchenkova/Rublev team took the first set 6-3 in a swift 34 minutes. But their opponent battled back in a drawn-out, 59-minute second set, with Vesnina and Karatsev prevailing in a tiebreaker. 

In tie-breaking third set, a race to 10 points that a team must win by two, Pavlyuchenkova and Rublev won 13-11, saving one match point along the way. 

Vesnina had a busy Olympics, also advancing to the bronze medal match in women's doubles — although her team lost to Brazil's — and the second round of women's singles. Karatsev lost in the first round of men's singles and second round of men's doubles, playing alongside Daniil Medvedev. 

Pavlyuchenka also participated in women's singles, falling to the eventual gold medalist Belinda Bencic in the quarterfinals. Rublev lost in the first round of men's singles and doubles.