Zheng Qinwen caps historic week in Paris with Olympic gold medal, defeats Donna Vekic

Sixteen years after Li Na narrowly missed out on an Olympic medal in Beijing, Zheng Qinwen made history at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, defeating Donna Vekic, 6-2, 6-3 to become the first Chinese player to win a gold medal in singles.

"The last point, I'm really nervous. My hand is shaking, actually!" Zheng admitted on court, draped in the Chinese flag. "Actually every match, when I go to the bathroom, my body is shaking. I never felt so hungry like this to win a match, and I wanted to give everything that I have. I know tennis doesn't work like this, that you don't always get the result you want but I feel super proud of myself that this time, I beat the pressure and the limits of myself."

Li, Zheng’s childhood idol, was the first Chinese player to win a Grand Slam in singles back in 2011 and finished just off the podium at the 2008 Games. Playing in her first Olympics, the streaking No. 6 seed backed up a stunning victory over world No. 1 Iga Swiatek to win an 11th straight match, knocking out the thirteenth-seeded Vekic in about one hour and 44 minutes on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

Zheng's victory also comes 20 years after Ting Li and Sun Tiantian became the first Olympic tennis champions from China, winning women's doubles gold in Athens.

"Since I was a little kid, I always wanted to medal for my country. And this time, I made it and I'm so happy to make history because when I was watching players make history, I always wanted to be one of them."

Zheng has been in the midst of a breakout season, one she started with a run to the 2024 Australian Open final. After finishing runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka, the 21-year-old cracked the Top 10 for the first time, earning a career-high ranking of No. 7.

After a quiet spring, Zheng caught fire on the post-Wimbledon clay swing defending her title in Palermo to take a five-match winning streak into Paris. Once there, she battled through back-to-back three-setters against No. 11 seed Emma Navarro and former world No. 1 Angelique Kerber—sending the latter into retirement.

"I didn't know I could go through five matches in a row like this, especially the seven hours I played in two days. This tournament, I broke through my limits, so in the future, it doesn't matter how down I am, I'll always remember this moment and it will cheer me up."

It was in the semifinals where Zheng caused the biggest shock of the tournament, defeating Swiatek for the first time in seven meetings to eliminate the top seed from gold-medal contention.

Into the biggest clay-court final of her career, she would have to beat an inspired Vekic, a player enjoying a career renaissance, across the net. Vekic was coming off a spectacular semifinal run at Wimbledon, where she endured a heartbreaking loss to eventual runner-up Jasmine Paolini.

Though clay has historically been Vekic’s weaker surface, the Croat employed her grass-court aggression to impeccable effect on the terre battue, planting No. 2 seed Coco Gauff and surviving a titanic three-set quarterfinal over No. 12 seed Marta Kostyuk. Once in the medal rounds, Vekic reverted back to rutheless efficiency, blanking surprise semifinalist Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-0 in the second set to guarantee herself a spot on the podium.

In a battle of big hitters, it was Zheng who got off on the better footing in the opening set, racing ahead 3-0 and saving all three break points against her to put herself six games from gold.

Zheng threatened to run away with the match early in the second when she eased to a 2-0 lead, but Vekic battled back, leveling the set at two games apiece. Zheng held firm, striking her 19th winner en route to a 4-3 lead, and struck a powerful overhead to earn two break points in the curcial eighth game.

A frustrated Vekic saved the first with a fearless approach to net and the second with a well-struck forehand—and later a third with a big serve—but Zheng kept pressing and made no mistake on her fourth chance to break.

Serving for gold, Zheng weathered a barrage of big hitting from Vekic to earn two match points and clinched the gold medal with one last forehand winner.

A defeated Vekic won't leave Paris empty-handed as the silver medalist, and Swiatek rounds out the women's singles podium with a bronze.