Andy Murray was denied a second Olympic gold medal of the day after he and Laura Robson were defeated in the mixed doubles by number one seeds Max Mirnyi and Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.
Despite an auspicious start, the British pair lost 2-6 6-3 10-8 (tie-break) to claim a silver medal, as they failed to become the 17th gold medal recipients for Team GB at London 2012.
Roger Federer had held court at his post-match press conference, but for Murray it was back to the men's locker room to prepare for a second final of the day less than an hour after his emphatic conquest of the Swiss.
Murray and Robson came close but didn't have the edge to pull off an historic double
The Scot's momentum carried into his doubles duel with Mirnyi and Azarenka. Centre Court was blemished with spare green seats despite, but the Belarusians were green with envy at the noise generated by a still uproarious home crowd.
Murray had crushed the world number one in straight sets already, and now he was determined to claim the number one mixed doubles seed as his next prize scalp.
He and Robson broke their Eastern European opponents' first two service games to surge into a 4-0 lead, a cushion which proved insurmountable.
Robson, a plucky loser to Maria Sharapova on Tuesday, tends to be at ease amidst the frivolous fun of mixed doubles tennis. But she strode purposefully around the court, intent on claiming her own gold medal at the age of 18. She nervelessly served out the first set, conceding just one point.
Taken aback by the raise in volume, Mirnyi and Azarenka acclimatised to the partisan crowd early in the second set as they broke the Britis' serve, and eventually held serve to win the second set 6-3 and level the match.
Belarusian voices were now audible, albeit swiftly drowned out by Team GB enthusiasts, who now appreciated the threat the Belarusians' posed.
Robson's erratic serve emerged as the Brits' Achilles heel, and the tie-break which preceded the Belarusians' second-set win occasionally proved too taut for her.
However Robson did save two gold medal points on her serve, before Mirnyi served and won Belarus gold.