The Rio 2016 tennis competition come to an appropriately epic conclusion today, as London 2012 champion Andy Murray become the first player to retain an Olympic title. Meanwhile, the tide of history turned the other way for legends Martina Hingis and Venus Williams, as both settled for silver in the women’s and mixed doubles, respectively.

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The tone for the game was set early as the Scot began strongly and Del Potro responded superbly during the first set, eventually losing 7-5 as Murray sealed the final game with an unplayable passing shot.

Del Potro immediately hit back, breaking Murray’s serve in the first game of the second set, and went on to grow in confidence as the crowd’s increasingly vocal support appeared to buoy the Argentinian on to close out the set. The third set was Murray’s from start to finish, however.

Del Potro, ranked only no.141 due to injury, battled bravely (Photo: Getty Images/Julian Finney)

The fourth was a close affair with breaks and moments of brilliance from both players, culminating in a dramatic final game in which Del Potro saved a match point. 

 The Argentinian has an emotional history at the Olympic Games; many will remember his marathon semi-final against Roger Federer that saw him lose 6-3, 6-7, 17-19, one of the longest three-set games on record.

Russians prevail over Swiss pair

The women’s doubles was more straightforward, as Russia's Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina beat five-time major winner Martina Hingis and Swiss partner Timea Bacsinszky 6-4 6-4, denying Hingis in her bid for gold 20 years after her last Olympic Games at Atlanta 1996.

The Russian pair jump for joy after winning gold (Photo: Getty Images/Clive Brunskill)

Nishikori sees off Nadal

Kei Nishikori gave Japan its first Olympic tennis medal in 86 years, overcoming a mid-match lull to beat 2008 champion Rafael Nadal for the bronze medal. Nishikori won the third-place match 6-2, 6-7 (1), 6-3 on Sunday after blowing a 5-2 lead in the second set.

In 1920, Japan won its only previous Olympic tennis medals, a pair of silvers. Tennis was one of the original sports at the modern Olympics in 1896, remaining on the schedule until 1924. Then it was dropped, before returning in 1988.

Nadal does leave Brazil with a gold medal from men's doubles for Spain.

USA takes gold and silver

It was an all-American affair in the mixed doubles, as Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram lost to Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock. The score was 6-7 (3), 6-1 and 10-7 in the match tie-break.

Though Venus missed out on what would have been a record-breaking fifth Olympic gold medal, she didn’t rule out the possibility of trying again at the Tokyo 2020 Games:

"God willing, I imagine if I really want to be there, I could. Tokyo is about if I really want to be there, and if I want to continue to work this hard. It's a lot of hard work, and I will want to have to do the work. So we'll see."

Team USA claimed gold and silver in the mixed doubles (Photo: Getty Images/Clive Brunskill)