Zheng Qinwen achieves historic Olympics gold medal triumph over Donna Vekic at Paris 2024
Zheng Qinwen made history for China by defeating Donna Vekic in straight sets in the final of the 2024 Paris Olympics to secure the gold medal.
The world No 7 delivered a superb performance to prevail 6-2, 6-3 against Vekic in the women’s singles gold medal match on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
Zheng made a superb start by breaking Vekic in the world No 21’s opening service game and saving two break points to hold for a 3-0 lead. She saved another break point at 4-2 before breaking Vekic again to take the opening set.
In the second set, Zheng and Vekic exchanged early breaks, but the Chinese star earned the crucial breakthrough on the Croatian’s serve to take a 5-3 lead. She then displayed impressive composure to serve out the match convincingly to seal an outstanding triumph.
The 21-year-old has become the first player from China — or any Asian nation — to win a gold medal in singles in the history of tennis at the Olympics.
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In the semi-finals, Zheng stunned world No 1 and five-time Grand Slam winner Iga Swiatek, who went on to claim the bronze medal.
Vekic is the first Croatian player to win an Olympic silver medal in singles and the achievement is a significant career highlight for the 28-year-old, who has built on her run to the Wimbledon semi-finals last month.
Speaking to Eurosport after her gold medal victory, Zheng revealed she had been a lot more nervous at the end of the match than her level of play suggested.
“The last point, I was really nervous,” she explained. “My hand was shaking actually. Every match when I go to the bathroom, my body is shaking.
“I never felt so hungry like this to win a match. I could give everything I can, but I know tennis doesn’t work like this. It’s not like you give everything and get the results all the time.
“I feel super proud of myself that this time I beat the pressure. I beat my own limit. I didn’t know before I was able to go through five matches in a row. Especially seven hours in two days.
“I feel here in this tournament I broke through my limit. In the future it doesn’t matter how far down I am, I’ll remember this moment and it will cheer me up.”
In another interview, Zheng spoke about what it meant to become the first Asian Olympic tennis singles champion.
“It means a lot,” Zheng said. “It means everything because since I was a little kid, I really wanted to win a medal for my country, maybe not gold, just a medal. This time I made it. It was a gold medal.
“No one did that in tennis in Asia. I feel so happy to make history. When I was watching all the older players, how they created history, I really wanted to be one of them.
“In 2004, the Olympic Games, Liu Xiang (China’s first male athlete to win an Olympic gold in track and field), he said he will always remember in that moment when he was 21. Here I am, I’m also 21. This feeling… unbelievable.”
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