After upsetting Iga Swiatek in the semifinals at the Paris 2024 Olympics, China's Zheng Qinwen finished the job Saturday with a dominant performance in the gold medal match.
The 21-year-old beat Croatia's Donna Vekic, 6-2, 6-3, to make tennis history for China, claiming the nation's first singles gold medal at the Olympics.
China's only other Olympic tennis gold medal came before Zheng's second birthday in 2004, when Li Ting and Sun Tian-Tian won the women's doubles event in Athens. At the 2008 Beijing Games, Li Na finished fourth in singles.
Li Na, the only Chinese player to win a Grand Slam singles title (2011 Roland Garros, 2014 Australian Open), has been a key inspiration for Zheng since her youth. Now it's Zheng's turn to inspire others.
"I always want to become one of the Asians that can inspire young kids and make them love tennis more, because tennis is such a great sport, especially for girls," she said. "You need to fight. You need to have strength. You need to be fast. After this gold medal, I feel, finally, I can play tennis more relaxed."
It was seventh time lucky for the World No. 7 against Swiatek in the semifinals. The Pole was a perfect 6-0 against Zheng and entered the Olympics as a heavy favorite on the same courts where she has won four Roland Garros crowns.
"[Beating Swiatek] means a lot for me because I lost against her six times," Zheng said. "But now I beat her in the Olympic Games, one of the most important tournaments for me."
A 6-2, 7-5 stunner against Swiatek followed three-set wins against American Emma Navarro and Germany's Angelique Kerber, who was playing her farewell tournament. After three narrow victories, Zheng left no doubt in the final. She won 10 of the first 12 points in building a 3-0 lead against Vekic and never looked back on the way to the gold.
Until this season, Zheng's best big-stage result was a breakout quarterfinal run at the 2023 US Open. She quickly bettered that this season by reaching the Australian Open final before her fourth and biggest tour-level triumph at the Olympics.
Zheng was not the only Chinese tennis medalist in Paris. In mixed doubles, Wang Xinyu and Zhang Zhizhen brought home the silver.
