Zheng Qinwen defeated Donna Vekic to turn out to be China’s first Olympic tennis singles champion.
Zheng, who reached her first Grand Slam remaining on the Australian Open earlier this yr, ended Iga Swiatek’s three-year unbeaten run at Roland Garros within the semi-finals to ensure herself a medal.
And, though the ultimate was tighter than the scoreline urged, Zheng ensured she took prime spot on the rostrum by seeing off Croatian Vekic 6-2 6-3, with Swiatek having to accept bronze.
“Nothing can describe my feelings right now,” Zheng mentioned on court docket earlier than the medals ceremony.
“It is unreal, I hoped to get a medal for China and I made it, I bought the gold. I did every thing I might.
“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.”
Poland’s Iga Swiatek completed with the bronze medal after beating Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-2 6-1 on Friday.
Gold within the males’s doubles went to Australian veterans Matt Ebden and John Friends, who defeated American duo Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram 6-7 (8-6) 7-6 (7-1) (10-8) in an especially tight remaining.
Ebden’s Olympics started with a 6-0 6-1 drubbing in singles by Novak Djokovic after he took up an alternate place regardless of not having performed a match within the format for 2 years.
“Last night, I was actually dreaming of an Instagram post: how it started, and how it’s going,” mentioned the 36-year-old.
“I was thinking of my score eight days ago, winning one game. And then I was thinking ‘swipe right’ and there’s a gold medal photo. Maybe I’ll have to make that post at some point.
“I am tremendous comfortable to get the reward since you do not at all times get the reward to your exhausting work, however whenever you do it is fairly candy.”
Bronze additionally went to an American pair with Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul, who ended Andy Murray’s profession two days in the past, defeating combined doubles gold medallist Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek of the Czech Republic 6-3 6-4.
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