Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who arrived in Sydney despairing of his form after the worst slump of his career, won a marathon battle with Germany’s Tommy Haas to claim the Olympic men’s tennis gold medal for Russia.
A see-saw, sometimes scrappy match finally ended after three hours and 35 minutes with the former world No 1 winning 7-6, 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to complete a remarkable renaissance in the Olympic arena.
It was a victory for which the Russian had to dig deep into his mental and physical reserves.
Haas, 22, went into the final set looking the more likely winner after dominating the fourth set and coming out firing on all cylinders at the start of the fifth.
But just as victory looked within his grasp he stumbled, two unforced errors in the eighth game of the final set handing Kafelnikov, 26, the chance to serve out for the match.
The big Russian made no mistake, powerfully killing off the match to secure an Olympic gold medal that he said would mean more to him and his country than his 1996 French Open and 1999 Australian Open titles.
"It is absolutely fantastic," he said. "When I lost that fourth set, I told myself ’If you lose this match you are going to regret it for the rest of your life'."
The Russian graciously admitted that, at one point, he thought he was heading for defeat. "He was in good physical shape," he said. "The shots he was hitting were incredible."
Kafelnikov’s win completes a good month for Russian tennis after Marat Safin’s triumph in the US Open and 18-year-old Elena Dementieva’s silver medal performance here.
It also marks a remarkable turnaround in Kafelnikov’s own fortunes. The 26-year-old had arrived in Sydney totally despairing of his form after failing to win a singles title all year - a surprising statistic for a player who plays more tournaments than almost any other top player and has won at least three titles every year since 1994.
"Before the tournament I really thought I wasn’t going to challenge for any medal," he said.
"To get the gold is beyond all my expectations. I’m really proud of myself and my country. To have won two grand-slam titles and an Olympic gold means I’m not going to be forgotten."
Haas was left to rue what might have been if he had taken the numerous opportunities he had, particularly in a cagey 1hr 10min first set in which both players had their service broken twice.
The German was the first to break serve in the fifth game of the match. But he squandered the advantage in the very next game by blasting a simple forehand long with the court at his mercy.
He then had another golden opportunity when he took a 3-0 lead in the tiebreak but Kafelnikov produced the big shots when he needed them to edge the set.
Haas levelled things up after claiming the only break of the second set for a 5-3 lead.
Kafelnikov managed to step up a gear in the third, breaking Haas twice to take the set 6-2. But the momentum immediately swung back behind the German at the start of the fourth, a solitary break in the first game being enough to set up the tense finale.
Despite his defeat, Haas will leave Sydney happy after rediscovering the kind of form that helped him to briefly break into the world top ten at the end of last year. His performances here have been astonishing, given that this was only his second tournament back in action after a month out with hip and back injuries.
He had even seriously considered not making the long trip to Sydney because he was so out of condition he did not think he had any realistic prospect of competing for a medal. But having got here early after a second-round loss at the US Open, Haas had time to work on his strength and fitness and gained a much-needed confidence boost when he upset South Africa’s Wayne Ferreira, the 14th seed, in the first round and went on to claim the scalp of Spanish sixth seed Alex Corretja on his way to the final.
Kafelnikov had always been the favourite for gold after he eliminated Brazil’s Gustavo Kuerten with his best display of the tournament at the quarter-final stage.
In the final of the women's doubles, Venus and Serena Williams beat Kristie Boogert and Miriam Oremans, of the Netherlands, 6-1, 6-1 to win the Olympic gold medal. Dominique van Roost and Els Callens, of Belgium, won the bronze medal yesterday.
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