Paris, France, August 3, 2024: The famous Roland Garros tennis stadium in Paris crowned another worthy champion on Saturday – China’s Zheng Qinwen.
Zheng defeated Donna Vekic of Croatia 6-2, 6-3 in the women’s singles final to become the first Chinese player to win Olympic gold in singles play.
The 2024 Grand Slam runner-up in the Australian Open showed much more consistency against the powerful but erratic Croat and won in one hour, 45 minutes.
Zheng broke serve twice in the first set but found herself pegged back at 3-3 in the second before breaking Vekic to lead 5-3, from which point she served out to clinch victory on the first of two match points.
After notching the last point of the match with a forehand ground stroke winner, Zheng fell to the clay and laid on her back to take in the magnitude of her accomplishment, before signing tennis balls to hit into the crowd. The spectators on the receiving end would have a piece of history in their collection – a signed tennis ball from China’s first Olympic tennis singles champion.
At 21 years old, Zheng has a long career ahead of her – but will never forget this moment in the grand surroundings of Court Philippe-Chatrier which, on this particular August afternoon, was awash with the ubiquitous red flag with gold stars.
"It's just unreal," Zheng said after signing several autographs for members of the crowd. "All my country will be proud of me. I will be proud of myself."
This is China's first Olympic medal of any colour in women's singles, and the country's second Olympic gold medal in tennis overall. China's Li Ting and Sun Tiantian won the Olympic gold medal in women's doubles at the 2004 Athens Games.
The International Tennis Federation described her as “Qinwen Queen of Paris” and pointed out that she had become the first Chinese player to win a singles gold medal at the Olympics.
Zheng completed an incredible week with the gold. The 21-year-old right-hander won consecutive three-hour matches over Emma Navarro in the Round of 16, saving a match point, and former World No. 1 Angelique Kerber in the quarterfinals.
World No.7 Zheng then upset World No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland in the semifinals, which was her first victory over the world's top-ranked player in seven attempts. She also snapped Swiatek's 20-match winning streak on clay.