Qinwen Zheng becomes first-ever Chinese player to win Olympic Gold in tennis after dominant win over Donna Vekic

Zheng, who also featured in her first Olympics, played her second final at a big event, having reached the summit clash of the Australian Open earlier this year, which she lost to Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka easily in straight sets. Earlier in her Olympics campaign, she easily went past her opponents in the first and second rounds but had to fight hard against America’s Emma Navarro and Germany’s Angelique Kerber.

Vekic on the other hand lost just one set (against Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in the quarterfinals) before her clash with Zheng. En route to the final, the 28-year-old also knocked out 2022 US Open champion Coco Gauff. It was also Vekic’s second appearance at the Olympics, having made her debut in the 2020 Tokyo Games where she got knocked out of the third round. Vekic has now become the first player from Croatia to win silver medal in Olympics singles.

Qinwen Zheng on cloud nine after winning the Olympic gold

Like every sportsperson, Qinwen Zheng dreamt of winning an Olympic medal for her country and claimed after the match that even the silver or bronze would have satisfied her.

It means a lot. 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. Qinwen Zheng said after the match

It was China’s second medal in an Olympic tennis event as Li Ting and Sun Tiantian won the women’s doubles at the 2004 Athens Olympics. In women’s singles, before Zheng, Li Na was able to reach the semifinals in the 2008 Beijing Games.