Li, Sun win first Olympic tennis medal for China

In winning the doubles gold-medal match, Li Ting (left) and Sun Tian Tian also won China's first medal in Olympic tennis. Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Eighth-seeded Li Ting and Sun Tian Tian won China's first tennis medal at any Olympics by beating No. 2 Conchita Martinez and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain 6-3, 6-3 for the women's doubles gold Sunday.

It was the first title of the year for the Chinese pair, who ended a four-match losing streak by eliminating 2000 gold medalist Venus Williams and Chanda Rubin in the opening round in Athens.

The Spanish duo had played just one tournament together in their careers before the Olympics.

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

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.

Sunday's final was 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.