Zheng Qinwen of China has managed to safe gold within the ladies’s singles tennis bracket on the 2024 Paris Olympics. Zheng, the sixth seed, wanted simply two units to defeat No. 13 Donna Vekic of Croatia, 6-2, 6-3, on the clay courts of Roland Garros. The loss implies that Vekic will probably be taking house the silver medal, one thing that few anticipated out of her when the draw was introduced.
And whereas Zheng got here in ranked increased than Vekic — No. 7 on this planet vs. No .21 — she too was hardly anticipated to return away with the gold. Each gamers made it by means of a number of higher-ranked opponents all through the event. Zheng’s medal is China’s first ever Olympic gold in ladies’s singles.
Zheng, 21, had an exceptional run to the ultimate, coming into the event because the sixth seed and dispatching the top-seeded Iga Swiatek within the semifinals. Earlier than that, she downed Angelique Kerber of Germany (a 2016 silver medalist) in three units within the quarterfinals.
That marked the ultimate match of Kerber’s skilled profession, however it was the straight units victory over Swiatek that actually shocked the tennis world. On high of being the highest seed, Swiatek is a clay court docket specialist who has received three consecutive French Opens on this identical Roland Garros clay.
She grew to become the primary Polish tennis participant to win a medal on the Summer season Video games when she received the following bronze medal match in opposition to Anna Karolina Schmiedlova. Schmiedlova was the lowest-ranked semifinalist — No. 67 on this planet — since tennis returned to the Olympics, however she nonetheless had an exceptional run en path to being the primary Slovak lady to achieve the medal stage in tennis. She downed the fourth-seeded Jasmine Paolini within the third spherical, and took down the ninth-seeded Barbora Krejčíková in straight units within the quarterfinals.
Then she bumped into Vekic, who dispatched her and made it look simple in straight units, 6-4, 6-0. Vekic is 28 and entered the Olympics with a singles rating of No. 21 on this planet. Going into the ultimate, she had dropped only a single set all event.
On her method to the quarterfinals and past, Vekic dropped former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu within the second spherical after which Coco Gauff within the third. Gauff is the world No. 2 participant and was thought-about the USA’s high probability at getting a medal in singles tennis this Olympics.
On the boys’s facet, high seed Novak Djokovic will face second seed Carlos Alcaraz to find out the gold and silver medals on Sunday.
