Thursday, August 1, 2024, 7:16 p.m. | Updated 10:23 p.m.
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Sara Sorribes is just one step away from giving Valencian tennis its first Olympic medal since 2008. Back then, in Beijing, Anabel Medina won silver alongside Virginia Ruano. The latter is in Paris as a commentator while the Torrent native is the Spanish captain, who was cheering with restrained emotion on the Vall d’Uixó native and Cristina Bucsa, the couple that was created like love at first sight when they won the Mutua Madrid Open, which was their first tournament together.
At the Paris Olympics, the two Spaniards continued to perform at a high level, working together perfectly and, above all, being able to overcome difficult moments. Such as the super tie-break against the Ukrainians Nadia Kichenok and Liudmila Kichenok, which they lost 3-7.
Bucsa and Sorribes have held on to the match and, in an impressive set, peppered by their rivals’ mistakes in their service turns, they have turned the tiebreaker around. They have reached 9-7, having two winning points. They have wasted them, one with Bucsa’s serve, but even with those they have not given up. They have continued fighting for the fourth winning point, and from the rest, they have sentenced their passage to the semi-finals.
They had previously dominated the first set 6-3. When Sorribes and Bucsa had completed a great first set, a break by Nadia Kichenok and Liudmila Kichenok left them with doubts in the second. This was the Ukrainians’ turn, who seemed to be arriving with positive momentum to the super tie break. And so it was until the reaction came after a double fault that gave oxygen to the Spanish. They have grabbed that thread of life and are now in the semi-finals.
In that round they will face Dina Schneider and Mirra Andreeva. Sorribes and Bucsa will have two chances to win a medal at the Olympic Games. If they win they will be assured of at least silver (and will fight for bronze), but if they lose they will face the losers from the other semi-final of the tournament.
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