China's hopes of clinching a first Olympic tennis gold medal in two decades were dashed as the nation's mixed doubles pair came up short against the Czech Republic in a thrilling final which ended at nearly midnight, Paris time.

Wang Xinyu and Zhang Zhizhen were broken twice in the opening set, which they conceded after just 23 minutes.

But after settling in, the pair were neck and neck against Katerina Siniakova and Tomas Machac. Set two lasted nearly twice as long, with Wang and Zhang taking it 7-5 in 40 minutes.

With the match at one set apiece, a 10-point tiebreak ensued to decide who would be gold medallists.

The raucous Chinese supporters inside Court Philippe Chatrier were in a frenzy after their side went up 3-0. But the Czechs levelled the score and bagged the last four points of the match, including a crucial double fault by their opponents at 8-8.

The dramatic slip-up meant China had to make do with a silver. It was still the first tennis medal for the nation since Zheng Jie and Yan Zi struck bronze in the women's doubles in 2008.

That followed a gold by Li Ting and Sun Tiantian in the same discipline in Athens four years prior.