Paris Olympics: Qinwen Zheng wins gold in women's singles tennis
Qinwen Zheng of China has bagged the gold medal in women's singles tennis at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Saturday. Zheng was at her absolute best as she swept aside Croatia's Donna Vekic on Court Philippe-Chatrier at Roland Garros. Zheng won the contest 6-2, 6-3 to capture her maiden Olympic medal. Notably, Iga Swiatek of Poland won the bronze medal on Friday.
30-12 win-loss record on the WTA Tour this season
Ranked 7th in women's singles, 21-year-old Zheng has raced to a 30-12 win-loss record on the WTA Tour this season. In July, she won her maiden title of the season (Palermo Ladies Open). Notably, she reached her maiden Grand Slam final at the 2024 Australian Open back in March. She was beaten by Aryna Sabalenka.
Her record at Roland Garros
Zheng came to the Olympics with a 6-3 win-loss record at Roland Garros. Across three seasons at the French Open, she reached the 4th round, 2nd round and 3rd round respectively. And now, she won six successive matches at Roland Garros to win the gold.
Zheng's journey in Paris 2024
Zheng started her Paris 2024 campaign with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Italy's Sara Errani. Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands was Zheng's next scalp. The latter won 6-2, 6-4. Zheng had to dig deep against USA's Emma Navarro, prevailing 6-7, 7-6, 6-1. In the quarters, she beat the retiring Angelique Kerber 6-7, 6-4, 7-6. In the semis, Zheng overcame Swiatek 6-2, 7-5.
Maiden Olympic medal for Vekic
Vekic won her maiden medal at the Olympics. In fact, earlier, she became the first Croatian woman to reach the medal stage at the Olympics. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Vekic was downed in the third round by Elena Rybakina. Vekic is 27-16 on the WTA Tour this season. Ranked 21 in the world, 2024 Wimbledon semi-finalist is 10-12 at Roland Garros (French Open).
Match stats and H2H record
Zheng doled out four aces to Vekic's one. However, the former committed more double faults (3-2). Both players claimed 10 winners each. Zheng won 6/6 net points whereas Vekic made 30 unforced errors. In terms of the head-to-head, Zheng leads Vekic 2-1.
Zheng makes these records
As per Opta, Zheng is now the first Asian-born player to win a gold medal in the women's or sen's singles at the Olympics in tennis history (since Athens 1896). Zheng is also the second player since tennis returned to the Summer Olympic program in 1988 to win the women's singles gold medal at the Olympics on clay after Jennifer Capriati (1992).
