Zheng holds off Vekic in Olympic gold-medal final

Zheng Qinwen of China is the Olympic champion and gold medalist in women's singles at the 2024 Paris Games.

In Saturday's Olympics final, No.6 seed Zheng defeated No.13 Donna Vekic of Croatia 6-2, 6-3 on Court Philippe Chatrier at Roland Garros. Zheng, this year's Australian Open runner-up, took 1 hour and 45 minutes to get past Vekic.

This is China's first Olympic medal of any color in women's singles, and the country's second Olympic gold medal in tennis overall. China's Li Ting and Sun Tiantian won gold in women's doubles at the 2004 Athens Games.

Gritty run to gold: Zheng completes an incredible week with the gold. The 21-year-old won consecutive three-hour matches over Emma Navarro in the Round of 16 (saving a match point) and Angelique Kerber in the quarterfinals (in former World No.1 Kerber's final professional tennis match).

World No.7 Zheng then upset World No.1 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals, which was her first victory over the world's top-ranked player in seven attempts. She also snapped Swiatek's 20-match winning streak on clay.

Zheng is now on an 11-match winning streak of her own since she returned to clay after a first-round loss at Wimbledon. Prior to the Olympics, Zheng successfully defended her WTA 250 Palermo title on the dirt.

Sterling silver: Vekic earned the silver medal for her excellent efforts, including a win over World No.2 Coco Gauff in the Round of 16 and saving match point against Marta Kostyuk in the quarterfinals. Vekic collects the first Olympic medal in women's singles for a player representing Croatia.

Swiatek of Poland joined Zheng and Vekic on the medal podium after clinching the bronze medal over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia on Friday.

Match moments: Zheng jumped out to an early lead in the first set, and she prevented Vekic from pulling back on serve by hitting a deft drop volley winner to save break point at 4-2. On her first set point, Zheng used a powerful forehand to force an error from Vekic.

Following a pristine service return into the corner, another forehand winner gave Zheng a 2-0 lead in the second set as well. Vekic, however, earned her first break of the day to reach 2-1, then battled through a gritty hold to level the set at 2-2.

Vekic kept proceedings much closer from there, but another grueling game at 4-3 proved decisive. Vekic erased three break points in that tussle, but a deep return by Zheng earned her a fourth opportunity. There, Vekic sent a backhand wide, allowing Zheng to serve for the gold.

Zheng was up to the task, slamming a forehand winner on her first championship point and collapsing to the ground in triumph. Zheng converted four of her seven break points in the match, while Vekic went 1-for-4 on break points.