The world No. 1 seed and Polish player Iga Swiatek lost to Qinwen Zheng of China in the semi-finals of the Olympic tennis competition, causing a major upset in the women’s singles category.
The four-time French Open champion lost 6-2 7-5 in straight sets. It was a shock defeat for Swiatek, who had become a force to reckon with at Roland Garros, where she has won four French Open titles, including the last three consecutively.
With her win against the world No. 1, Zheng admitted: “It’s truly indescribable how thrilled I am right now… I defeated the world No. 1, the player who has been the reigning champion at Roland Garros for years…. This journey has not been easy. Additionally, having played over six hours on court in the past few days and spending around eight hours on court within three days, I felt like I was driven by sheer determination.”
She added: “I know that in a regular women’s match, my stamina might have run out after such extended play. But for some reason, today, my energy levels remained high throughout. I was certain that, even if the match went into the third set, I would fight until the last breath … Even if I had to play for another three hours for my country, I felt I could manage it. Beating the world No. 1 at the Olympic stage means a lot to me.”
Highlights of the match
Zheng surged to a commanding first-set victory, but Swiatek was poised to force a decisive tiebreaker after a furious second set. Zheng, however, overcame a 0–4 deficit to win the match and sent the champion to the bronze medal round.
In the gold medal match, Zheng will play either Donna Vekić of Croatia or Anna Karolína Schmiedlová of Slovakia. Prior to this match, the Chinese star’s record against Swiatek was 0–6.
Up until now, Swiatek had gone undefeated in the tournament, dropping just one set in her four bouts. The Pole had been playing with a lighthearted confidence in her initial matches of the tournament at home on clay, but Danielle Collins pushed her to a tiebreaker before the American retired.
However, Zheng had previously caused Swiatek problems on this court. The current world No. 7 defeated the champion in the opening set of 2022, and Swiatek later recovered to defeat the WTA Tour rookie.
Since 2021, this is Swiatek’s first defeat at Roland Garros.
Source: CNN