'Heartbreaker': Ash Barty and John Peers suffer devastating loss
Ash Barty and John Peers have fallen short of an Olympic gold medal after losing in a thrilling super tiebreak in the semi-final of the mixed doubles in Tokyo.
Barty and Peers, much like in the quarter-final, got off to a brilliant start and won the first set 7-5 against the ROC pair of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Andrey Rublev.
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But, the fourth seeded ROC pair broke early in the second and held on to take it 6-4.
The match was sent to a super tiebreak and both teams were feeling the nerves.
ROC and Australia had match points, but Rublev and Pavlyuchenkova were able to hold their nerves and tale the super tiebreak 13-11 to advance to the final.
Fans heartbroken after Barty and Peers nail-bitter
Fans watched the super tiebreak on the edge of their seat as both teams had chances of closing out the match.
But ultimately, the Aussies were devastated to have come so close to Olympic gold in Tokyo.
The joy to the despair, Peers and Barty lose in an epic super breaker and now will play for bronze #Tennis
— Tony Tannous (@TonyTannousTRBA) July 30, 2021
Heartbreaker for Peers-Barty; downed 13/11 in the match tie breaker - will play for Bronze #Tennis
— tennistragic (@tennistragic1) July 30, 2021
Andrey Rublev and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova secure an Olympic medal, reaching the mixed doubles final after beating Ash Barty and John Peers 5-7, 6-4, 13-11.
Possible all ROC final in mixed #tennis— José Morgado (@josemorgado) July 30, 2021
Ash Barty and John Peers have lost their Mixed Doubles semifinal in a super tiebreak to team Russia.
5-7 6-4 13-11
Will now play for the Bronze medal. #Tokyo2020 #tennis— Lachlan McKirdy (@LMcKirdy7) July 30, 2021
Barty/Peers go down in nail biter 12-10 in the match tiebreak will play for Bronze
— Tom Hockman (@Tom_Hockman) July 30, 2021
Barty and Peers will now have the opportunity to play for a bronze medal.
ROC advance and will either take on another ROC pair Aslan Karetsev and Elena Vesnina or Serbian pair Novak Djokovic and Nina Stajanovic in the final.
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