China's gold medalists Li Ting (L) and Sun Tian Tian show their medals during the awards ceremony after the women's tennis doubles gold medal final at Athens 2004 Olympic Games, August 22, 2004. (Reuters)

Li Ting and Sun Tian Tian won China's first Olympic tennis medal ever by beating Conchita Martinez and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday for the doubles gold.

The eighth-seeded Chinese pair hadn't won a title all year, and ended a four-match losing streak by eliminating 2000 gold medalist Venus Williams and Chanda Rubin in the opening round.

The doubles silver is Martinez's third Olympic medal - but none is gold. She paired with Arantxa Sanchez Vicario to win the silver in 1992 and the bronze in 1996.

Martinez and Ruano Pascual had played just one tournament together before the Olympics, yet they were seeded second.

On Saturday, No 7 Paola Suarez and Patricia Tarabini of Argentina beat No 5 Shinobu Asagoe and Ai Sugiyama of Japan 6-3, 6-3 for the doubles bronze. Suarez and Ruano Pascual have won six Grand Slam doubles titles as a team.

It's been quite a summer for Chinese tennis. At the French Open in May, Zheng Jie became the first Chinese woman to reach the fourth round at a Grand Slam tournament.

Sunday's final was an even bigger moment for the Chinese, but it was also a sloppy match - with nine service breaks combined, including in the last two games. The match ended with Ruano Pascual missing a forehand and then a backhand to get broken for the fourth time.

The Chinese broke Martinez for a 5-3 edge in the opening set, then Sun served it out, avoiding a break point set up by her double-fault. On set point, Li ended an 11-stroke exchange with a volley winner off Martinez's forehand.

That was part of a five-game run that gave the Chinese a 2-0 lead in the second set. The Spanish duo broke back to 2-2 on Li's double-fault, but Ruano Pascual lost her serve in the next game by double-faulting and making three forehand errors.

The Chinese then broke Martinez to go up 5-2, but Li was broken while serving for the match. One last poor service game by Ruano Pascual ended it. 

(Agencies)

service break : （破發）

backhand: a stroke or motion, as of a racket, made with the back of the hand facing outward and the arm moving forward（反手擊球）

double-fault: （發球雙誤，造成丟分的發球）