Chinese Tennis Wins Historic Gold Medal at Olympics
Báo Dân trí•20/11/2024
(Dan Tri) - For the first time in history, Chinese tennis won the Gold Medal in singles at the Olympics. Zheng Qinwen won 6-2, 6-3 against Donna Vekic in the women's singles final at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Zheng Qinwen and Donna Vekic are both on the verge of history as they look to bring home their country’s first Olympic singles gold medal. The final result of the match took place tonight (August 3), with the Chinese player winning 2-0 after 1 hour and 46 minutes at Philippe Chatrier Stadium (Paris, France).
Zheng Qinwen became the owner of the women's singles gold medal at the 2024 Olympics (Photo: Getty).
Going into the women's singles final, sixth seed Zheng Qinwen had the advantage of being ranked higher than her opponent. The Chinese player had also shown excellent form, including defeating former world number one Angelique Kerber in the quarter-finals and top seed Iga Swiatek (Roland Garros champion in four of the last five years) in the semi-finals. However, Vekic was not to be underestimated. The 28-year-old has been in impressive form recently, winning 13 of her last 15 matches and reaching her first final of the year in Bad Homburg. Vekic then continued her good form to reach her first major semi-final at Wimbledon. The Croatian lost narrowly to Jasmine Paolini, saving a series of match-points before losing 10-8 in the third-set tie-break.
Vekic did not get into the rhythm well in the decisive match (Photo: Getty).
However, the WTA No. 21 player did not start well in the Gold Medal match when she lost the break in the first game of her serve (0-2). Vekic put a lot of pressure on Zheng Qinwen in the third game with two chances to break, but the Chinese player saved the game successfully. Continuously breaking the score, Zheng Qinwen put a lot of pressure on her opponent in game 8, Vekic was broken again and Zheng Qinwen won the first set 6-2. Zheng Qinwen continued to start well in the second set with a break in the first game of her opponent's serve (2-0). Vekic continued to rise in the next game and the scenario changed when she easily broke successfully (1-2). The two players competed fiercely in the score, until game 8, Zheng Qinwen once again broke successfully (5-3). With a victory in the pivotal game, the Chinese player easily secured a 6-3 victory, thereby ending the Gold Medal match.
Zheng Qinwen threw his racket and lay down on the court to celebrate after winning (Photo: Getty).
Zheng Qinwen is currently on an 11-match winning streak since returning to clay following a first-round loss at Wimbledon. Prior to the Olympics, Zheng successfully defended her WTA 250 Palermo title on clay. With Zheng Qinwen's gold medal, China also won its second Olympic gold medal in tennis. Li Ting and Sun Tiantian won the Olympic gold medal in women's doubles at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
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