Del Potro served for the fourth set at 5-4 but Murray broke the Argentine in consecutive games to claim the match, his 18th straight victory following his second Wimbledon title in July.
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Andy Murray, of England, returns to Juan Martin del Potro, of Argentina, during their gold medal match in the tennis competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016.
“Today was a very up and down match, very stressful”.
From this stage, the signs were already there that we would be in for a long night.
The first set, falling Murray’s way, was therefore so important – however, it was a closely fought one, with Murray proving just that little bit better in the key moments. But tonight I found really hard. I lost quite a few Grand Slam finals.
“I’m happy that I’m still here competing for the biggest events and I’ll try and keep going”.
The fourth set saw Murray and del Potro tied at 3-3. He has undergone four wrist surgeries and missed more than two years’ worth of action.
“To get himself back to playing at this level, fighting for the biggest events and competing against the best players in the world is an awesome credit to him”.
He eventually prevailed 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 in a match lasting over four hours to claim his country’s fifth gold medal of the day – a record at an Olympics outside London.
But each time he faltered and Murray pounced. Play stayed even, back and forth until it was 5-5, whereupon Murray managed to grab the final game after saving two break points.
In the final, which goes to the best-of-five format, del Potro made it interesting early, rallying in the first set before Murray pushed past him and winning the second.
Williams and partner Rajeev Ram were beaten in three sets by fellow Americans Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock.
The gold medalist from London 2012 responded immediately, racing away to break Del Potro to love, before backing that up with a comfortable service hold, winning eight points in a row.
The silver medal made up for a disappointing Games for the Williams sisters.
The Argentinian was attempting to win his nation’s first gold medal in tennis. He says that “this week will help me to move forward”.
Kei Nishikori won Japan’s first Olympic tennis medal in nearly a century on Sunday when he captured bronze against Rafael Nadal, despite the tired Spaniard mounting a stirring mid-match fightback.
After blowing a 4-1 lead, he converted his second set point to take the first set 7-5.
Nadal, the 2008 singles champion in Beijing, was playing his 11th match in Rio.
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The world number two blew a 4-1 lead before fighting back to win the first set 7-5 with a trademark backhand passing shot. No man ever has defeated the top three seeds on the way to a gold, but 2009 USA champion del Potro sure came close before winding up with a silver to go alongside his bronze from 2012.
