Paris 2024 Olympics: Qinwen Zheng beats Donna Vekic to claim historic gold and cap spectacular week at Roland-Garros
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Updated 03/08/2024 at 17:57 GMT+1
The women's tennis gold medal went to Qinwen Zheng of China as she defeated Croatia's Donna Vekic at Roland-Garros to make history. Zheng is the first Asian-born player to become an Olympic singles champion and achieved it in style, having taken out world No. 1 Iga Swiatek en route to the final. Vekic, meanwhile, made history for Croatia, becoming the nation's first player to win a silver medal.
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Qinwen Zheng made history by claiming China’s first-ever tennis singles medal at the Olympic Games, beating Donna Vekic of Croatia in straight sets to claim a sensational gold.
The 21-year-old won 6-2 6-3 to seal the biggest achievement of her career so far and continue a breakthrough season in which she has reached a Grand Slam final and risen into the top 10.
Vekic's silver also marked her country’s greatest Olympic singles feat in the sport.
Zheng’s superb victory crowned a glorious week in Paris after she stunned hot favourite Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals, ending the Polish world No. 1’s 25-match unbeaten run at Roland-Garros.
That win made the world No. 7 the first Asian-born player to reach a women’s or men’s singles final at the Olympics, and now she is the first champion.
“Nothing can describe my feeling right now. Every round was super emotional," Zheng said to Eurosport's Laura Robson.
“It’s just unreal. I was hoping to get a medal for China and finally I [did] it, and it was a gold medal. I did everything I could.
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“I feel my country will be proud of me, I will be proud of myself, and my father and mother in China, for sure they are watching the TV right now and screaming for this moment.
“I want to say thanks to my team, my family, this success is for all of you guys. I made it, but not just me."
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Zheng made a flying start, breaking Vekic at the first opportunity as the nervy Croatian’s unforced error count quickly rose.
Vekic settled and managed to claw back two break points of her own, but they were seen off by Zheng in a gutsy hold which the Chinese youngster celebrated with a fist pump.
Try as she might, Vekic could make no headway against the Zheng serve, another break chance coming and going when the Chinese won one of the points of the match, sending a drop volley over the net to end a long rally.
Zheng avoided the pressure-filled task of serving out the set by breaking for a second time to take the opener 6-2, not flinching as she took the first break point on offer.
The match, and with it hopes of a gold medal, looked to be getting away from Vekic when she was again broken early in set two, falling 2-0 behind when Zheng smashed a forehand winner past her.
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But this time, the Croatian had an answer. Vekic responded positively by breaking back immediately, before battling to a big hold to get the set back on serve.
Zheng spotted an opportunity when she edged 30-0 up on Vekic’s serve at 4-3, and an overhead smash saw the Croatian throw her racquet to the clay as she coughed up two break points.
The 28-year-old saved both, and another at deuce, but could not see off a fourth as Zheng pounced at a crucial juncture before serving out stylishly and collapsing to the turf in joy.
“I just fight every single match," Zheng added.
"There were two matches I almost lost. I came from 0-2 down in the second set (against Vekic), another match 1-4 down in the second set, against Iga (Swiatek) 0-4 down in the second set.
“I just feel there is special energy cheering me up. Maybe it’s playing for my country because I have a lot of support.
"It doesn’t matter what situation I’m in, I just never gave up, trying to fight every single point, find solutions, trying to play smart."
On Friday, Swiatek bounced back from her defeat against Zheng to take the bronze medal, beating Anna Schmiedlova of Slovakia.
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discovery+ is the streaming home of the Olympic Games, and the only place you can watch every moment of Paris 2024 this summer.
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