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Zheng Qinwen entered the Paris Olympics as a top-10 player, but was an unlikely candidate to win the title.
She will leave the tournament as the first ever Chinese tennis champion, the greatest accolade of her young career.⁹
Against Croatian Donna Vekić, Zheng showed extraordinary power in her shots on the clay of Roland Garros, triumphing 6-2, 6-3 in a very close match for the gold medal.
Don’t be fooled by the lopsided score: Zheng was forced to fight throughout the match, which lasted an hour and 44 minutes, saving numerous break points and seizing every opportunity to increase her lead.
After winning the match point, her joy was laid bare. She dropped to the ground, spreading her arms and encrusting her back with red clay.
Not even Zheng’s idol, two-time Grand Slam champion Li Na, could match this feat, never finishing higher than fourth at the Olympics.
“It was an incredible experience for me. I just made history and I’m so happy for this moment,” Zheng told reporters, adding: “You can see the strength I have in this tournament, the demeanor, the eyes, the hunger I have, it’s different from all the other tournaments I play.”
Zheng reacts to winning match point against Vekić.
Zheng reacts to a match point win over Vekić. Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Perhaps Zheng’s best (and certainly least anticipated) victory at these Olympics came in the semifinals, ending world No. 1 Iga Świątek’s 25-match winning streak at Roland Garros.
That win would do wonders for the 21-year-old’s confidence heading into the final, as she began the match with determination and aggression, breaking Vekić’s serve to take a 2-0 lead.
Vekić, who had already made history as the first Croatian to reach the Olympic singles final, took longer to settle in.
He soon proved himself to be a match for Zheng’s big shots, creating break points of his own but failing to capitalise on them.
You may have sensed the 28-year-old’s frustration when Zheng hit a forehand at her at 4-1 in the first set, and Vekić could only respond by throwing her arms in exasperation.
More break points went into the next game –
Zheng beautifully saves the match with a drop volley, and from there it looks difficult for Vekić to find his way back to the set.
After 48 minutes, the sixth seed had already consolidated her early lead, winning her first set point when Vekić failed to recover a forehand.
⁰A brief ray of sunshine broke across the court at the start of the second set, but the Parisian day was still much cooler than in previous weeks, a welcome relief from the hot, humid playing conditions.
Despite the defeat, Vekić took home a silver medal – Croatia’s best result in an Olympic tennis event.
Despite the defeat, Vekić took home a silver medal – Croatia’s best result in an Olympic tennis event.
A powerful forehand allowed Zheng to take a 2-0 lead in the second set, before Vekić responded immediately with his first break of the match.
At 4-3, however, Zheng had another opportunity. She hit a smash to create two break points (Vekić threw her racket to the ground in anger) and soon after found herself serving for the title.
The rest was a formality, Zheng breezed through the match and fittingly completed the victory with another forehand winner, her 11th of the match. It marked China’s first singles medal of any color and the country’s second in tennis after Li Ting and Sun Tiantian won gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
“There’s a force holding me back that makes me feel like I never give up during the Games,” Zheng said. “I don’t know why, because in a normal match I just let the game go on. But in these Olympics, I just hold on and hold on, keep fighting and finally I did it.
“I’m really happy to be here, to have won the gold medal, to represent my country,” she added. “I should improve, but after this gold medal, I feel like I can finally play tennis a little more relaxed.”
Zheng’s path to gold, not just her semifinal win over bronze medalist Swiatek, was anything but linear. She also overcame back-to-back matches lasting more than three hours against Emma Navarro and Angelique Kerber earlier in the competition.
For Vekić, there are plenty of reasons to be positive. He produced Croatia’s best-ever result at an Olympic tennis event, confirming his first Grand Slam semifinal appearance at Wimbledon last month.
Meanwhile, the world number 21 defeated second seed Coco Gauff and former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu in Paris.
“I didn’t expect to reach the final on clay,” Vekić told reporters. “Every time I won the first two rounds, I told my coach that I couldn’t believe the shots I was hitting, how good I was playing.
“It’s a bit of a surprise, but she was better than me today. All credit to her, she was playing really well and deserved to win.” [CNN]
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