Truly astonishing scenes developed on Court Philippe-Chatrier in the first of the women’s Olympic semi-finals.
A fired up Zheng Qinwen battled past the red hot favorite Iga Swiatek to win 6-2, 7-5, to dump out the world number one and bring an end to her 25 match unbeaten streak at Roland Garros.
The Pole, who had not lost in Paris for 1149 days, committed an uncharacteristic 36 unforced errors, in a display that unfortunately was not worthy of victory.
Both the players have had their own controversial moments in this Olympic campaign, with Emma Navarro saying she didn’t ‘respect’ Zheng after the American lost from match point up in the quarter-finals.
Swiatek’s win over Danielle Collins saw criticism rain down, with an extended bathroom break after the loss of the second set, repeated today as she tried to stop her opponent’s momentum.
Zheng however was magnificent, with her unbeaten streak now extending to ten, since her disappointing first round exit at Wimbledon.
Qinwen Zheng makes Chinese tennis history after beating the gold medal favorite Iga Swiatek
Upon securing match point, Zheng fell to the ground, coating her back in reddish Parisian clay.
The victory means Zheng is now the first Asian-born player to reach a women’s or men’s singles final at the Olympics and also the first to defeat the WTA’s number one on clay, since the rankings were first published in 1975.
After the match Zheng said, in quotes reported by the Straits Times: “I feel more than just happy – happy isn’t enough to describe how I feel.”
Having played back-to-back three-hour matches to make the semi-final, she continued: “If you ask me to play another three hours for my country, I would.
“Everyone knows how I want to get this medal for my country. So you cannot imagine how much pressure I had… especially after eight hours on court in three days, beating the world number one here.
“It’s unbelievable but it makes my journey more meaningful because I always wanted to play the best players and beat them. That’s what I want to show for my tennis. To beat Iga is not easy.”
Make no mistake, Zheng Qinwen has not come from nowhere
While the scale of the victory is staggering, Zheng is no newbie to competing at the very highest level.
Just this year, the 21-year-old reached her maiden grand slam final at the Australian Open, which she lost to Aryna Sabalenka.
Safely sitting at seventh in the world, Zheng is China’s biggest tennis star since Li Na, who missed out on bronze at the 2008 Beijing games.
Filled with grit, determination, and the weight of Chinese tennis behind her, Zheng was Swiatek’s worst nightmare, upping her level when needed, and digging out every ball, knowing how important this would be for her nation.
Despite having lost in her first six matches against Swiatek, with all the Vitas Gerulaitis energy in the world, nobody beats Zheng seven times in a row.
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