Zheng Qinwen became the first Chinese player to win an Olympic tennis singles gold medal when she held off Croatia’s Donna Vekic for a 6-2, 6-3 win in a tense final on Saturday.
The 21-year-old sixth seed was given raucous support by a sizeable Chinese contingent inside Roland Garros’s Court Philippe-Chatrier and responded with a composed performance.
Vekic, herself bidding to become Croatia’s first Olympic singles champion, battled hard to try to turn the match around but failed to capitalise on her opportunities.
Zheng was not at her sparkling best in the final but raised her game when required to land the biggest prize of her career.
Serving for the match at 5-3, Zheng reached match points as Vekic drove a backhand wide and finished it off with a well-placed forehand winner before falling on her back on the clay court with joy.
China’s only other gold medal in Olympic tennis came in 2004 when Li Ting and Sun Tiantian won the women’s doubles in Athens while the best previous singles performance was Li Na’s run to the semi-finals in 2008, although she missed out on a medal.
Zheng, runner-up at the Australian Open this year, now looks capable of scaling the same heights as Li who claimed two grand slam titles during her illustrious career.
“Nothing can describe my feelings right now,” Zheng told Eurosport on court before the medals ceremony. “It’s unreal, I was hoping to get a medal for China and I made it, I got the gold. I did everything I could.”
Her victory completed a memorable week for China on the Parisian clay after Wang Xinyu and Zhang Zhizhen won the silver medal in the mixed doubles the previous evening.
Zheng, who men’s finalist Novak Djokovic describes as his favourite female player, began the week in devastating fashion, beating former French Open runner-up Sara Errani 7-6, 6-0. She had to dig deep in long, three-set epics against Emma Navarro and Germany’s Angelique Kerber before stunning hot favourite Iga Swiatek to give herself a shot at gold.
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The vastly experienced Vekic presented a formidable obstacle in the final but Zheng started the contest quickly to lead 3-0 and managed to stay in control by coming through some edgy games.
“I fought every single match, I feel like I had special energy and lots of support. My country will be proud and my family who I know will be screaming at home by the TV,” Zheng said.
Poland’s Swiatek finished with the bronze medal after beating Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-2, 6-1 .
Earlier, Matthew Ebden and John Peers won Australia’s second tennis gold medal in Olympic history when beating Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram, of the United States, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (1), 10-8 in a tight battle in the men’s doubles final.
