By Richard Pagliaro | @TennisNow | Thursday, August 1, 2024
Zheng Qinwen roared through seven of the last eight games shocking world No. 1 Iga Swiatek 6-2, 7-5 to reach the Paris Olympics gold-medal match.
Photo credit: Julian Finney/Getty
Rising to historic heights, Zheng Qinwen fell flat on her back and pumped her fist in pure elation.
Even when she was down, Zheng was flying high today.
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Facing a 0-4 second-set deficit, Zheng roared through seven of the last eight games shocking Polish world No. 1 Iga Swiatek 6-2, 7-5 in today’s Paris Olympics semifinals.
Playing with poise and power, Zheng made history reaching the gold-medal match in her Olympic debut.
The 21-year-old Zheng is the first Chinese player to reach an Olympic final and she snapped Swiatek's 25-match Roland Garros winning streak to do it.
The sixth-seeded Chinese will play 13th-seeded Croatian Donna Vekic for the Olympic gold medal.
On her second match point, Wimbledon semifinalist Vekic slammed her sixth ace down the T stomping surprise Slovakian semifinalist Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-4, 6-0.
A revitalized Vekic, who conceded she considered pulling out of Roland Garros and taking a break from the game in May, cracked 26 winners against 13 errors in a 65-minute rout.
It was Vekic's 13th victory in her last 15 matches.
It’s been an arduous journey to reach the final and Zheng has shown strength and stamina along the way.
Zheng battled through successive three-hour victories—edging 11th-seeded American Emma Navarro in a contentious three-setter then stopping three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(6) in an epic quarterfinal yesterday—beat Swiatek to the ball and battered errors out of the top seed.
“That was unexplainable because everyone knows how I want to get this medal for my country,” Zheng told Peacock’s Britney Eurton afterward. “Since 2022, I’ve already been hoping for the 2024 Olympic Games. So you can imagine every match I had how much pressure I had and how much sacrifice I needed to do on court—especially back to back—I don’t know, maybe eight hours in three days.
“And to beat the world No. 1 here—that’s unbelievable. I feel that makes my journey more meaningful because I always want to play against the best players and beat them. I always feel that's what I want to show for my tennis.”
Four-time French Open champion Swiatek suffered her first loss on Roland Garros’ red clay since Maria Sakkari beat her 6-4, 6-4 in the 2021 Roland Garros quarterfinals.
Since that defeat, Swiatek has surged through 25 consecutive victories in Paris—21 straight Roland Garros victories, including three straight Roland Garros championships, and four Olympic wins—before it all came to a stunning end today though the Pole will still play for the bronze medal.
Though Swiatek carried a 6-0 career record over Zheng onto court today, the Chinese had pushed the Pole to three sets at the 2022 Roland Garros. Today, Zheng pushed Swiatek all over the court at times.
Beating Swiatek in lateral running rallies, Zheng deconstructed the five-time Grand Slam champion on the Court Philippe Chatrier red clay she regards as her home away from home.
A tearful Swiatek said she could not control her backhand.
"I had a problem on my backhand, which rarely happens because it's usually my strongest shot," Swiatek told Eurosport Poland. "I tried to correct that, it didn't work. I messed up."
Struggling to handle Zheng’s high-bouncing topspin trampolining off the red clay, Swiatek scattered 36 unforced errors—23 more than the Chinese. Zheng hit 17 winners, one more than the world No. 1 but played far cleaner tennis at crunch time.
Putting the Pole’s serve under near-constant stress, Zheng earned break points in Swiatek’s first four service games and converted six of 13 break point chances overall, compared to three of six break-point conversions for Swiatek, who could not solve the big-hitting Chinese.
“That’s unbelievable because I started the match quite well,” Zheng said. “I feel in this match that I had more patience than her, I wait more my chances I had less mistakes than her.
“Then it got even [tougher]. She’s always a player who can turn around a game. She did that in a lot of matches before, especially the matches against me. Against Iga, you have to be focused all the time.”
Australian Open finalist Zheng scored her third straight break to go up 5-2 before serving out the opening set at 15.
Resetting, Swiatek sped to a 4-0 second-set lead. Zheng exploited the Pole’s double fault to break back for 1-4.
Attacking the top seed’s serve again, Zheng battered Swiatek’s backhand wing drawing a netted error to break back for 3-4.
Staring down break point, Zheng zapped the wide serve to help erase it. Facing a second break point, Zheng drilled an ace to deny it. Swiatek was up quickly to a mid-court forehand but missed it wide—her 27th unforced error—to hand the Chinese game point.
This time, Zheng hammered her sixth ace to seal her fourth game in a row and level the set after eight games.
“When I was down zero-four, I started to be more aggressive. Because I feel in the second set, I’ve been waiting to much,” Zheng said. “Of course, it’s good to be patient but with Iga, you need to be patient, but at the same time aggressive.
“But now if you ask me how I do it? I don’t know. I just play every single point. I know even if I lose the second set I will still fight for the third set. I think it’s because of this mentality, I am able to fight for every single point and win.”
Serving at 4-all, 30-all, Swiatek caught a big break when her backhand crashed into the tape and dribbled over. The four-time Roland Garros hit a heavy forehand, surviving stress for 5-4.
Drawing another wild forehand error down the line from the world No. 1, Zheng worked through a tricky hold for 5-all.
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The forehand failed Swiatek again as she sprayed a diagonal forehand to fall behind 0-30 in the 11th game.
Trying to squeeze shots down the line, Swiatek missed a backhand line drive to fall into a 15-40 double break point hole.
Cornered by a crosscourt backhands, Swiatek slid a backhand wide as Zheng scored the crucial break for a 6-5 second-set lead. Zheng's skill breaking down the Swiatek backhand helped her get over the finish line today.
Confronting break point, Zheng saved it with a slick drop shot. When Siwatek missed the mark to end a one, hour 51-minute semifinal, Zheng dropped flat on her back, tossed her racquet aside and bathed in the red clay.
Swiatek declined to shake chair umpire Miriam Bley's hand after shaking Zheng's hand at net.
Sixteen years after her tennis hero, Li Na, reached the 2008 Olympic semifinals in Beijing, Zheng, the second Chinese player to contest the semifinals, will go for the gold and try to continue this historic run.