On a pulsating day of wheelchair tennis action at Rio 2016, French duo Stéphane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer overcame British pair Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewett - who will clash for men's singles glory tomorrow - to clinch the gold medal in the men's doubles competition with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 win.

Griffioen, twice a Paralympic silver medallist in doubles and a singles bronze medallist at London 2012, dropped the first set before recovering to claim a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 success against Van Koot.

The top seed came into the women's tournament as the overwhelming favourite for gold but a sluggish start saw team-mate and doubles partner Van Koot take the early initiative.

Van Koot, who lost out to countrywoman Esther Vergeerin in the singles final in London four years ago, moved to within one set of what would have been a surprise triumph as she secured the opener, taking advantage of a series of uncharacteristic mistakes from her fellow Dutchwoman.

But Griffioen remained determined to end her run of Paralympic heartbreak, bouncing back in some style by racing to the second set in just 25 minutes.

With the momentum fully behind her, the 31-year-old, who has enjoyed a superb year in 2016, winning both the Wimbledon and US Open Grand Slam titles, was on the brink of victory when she surged into a 5-1 lead in the decider.

Van Koot, however, stood firm and found her form when it mattered as she came close to restoring parity, with three straight games cutting the deficit to 5-4.

Needing to hold serve to stay in the gold medal match, Van Koot came under severe pressure from Griffioen, who found a second wind and blew her team-mate away, breaking to ensure she was crowned Paralympic champion.

Bronze went the way of Yui Kamiji of Japan, the second seed, after she beat Diede de Groot of The Netherlands 6-3, 6-3 yesterday.

"It's the perfect story and It feels kind of unreal," Griffioen said.

"I've been working for it for so long. 

"To finally have it around my neck, it feels like I'm dreaming. 

"I came here for only one thing, the gold medal.

"I was able to cope with the pressure for a long time but today was a really close match and I almost crumbled under pressure."

Japan, a nation which is still waiting for its first gold medal of the Rio 2016 Paralympics, added another bronze to their total when Shingo Kunieda and Satoshi Saida ousted compatriots Takuya Miki and Takashi Sanada 6-3, 6-4 in the third-place play-off in the men's doubles event.