Paris, 2 August 2024 (TDI): The world No. 1 seed and Polish player Iga Swiatek lost to Zheng Qinwen of China in the semifinals of the Olympic tennis competition on Thursday, causing a major upset in the women’s singles.
Swiatek lost 6-2 7-5 in straight sets. The Pole has won four French Open titles, including the last three in a succession, at Roland Garros, the tennis site during these Games.
As the clear favorite to win gold at the Paris Olympics, Swiatek is the dominant power in women’s tennis on clay.
Zheng disclosed to Olympics.com, “I can’t even express how happy I am right now—I beat the top player in the world, the person who had been the Roland Garros winner for years.”
“It has not been a simple journey. I also felt like I was motivated by sheer resolve after playing for more than six hours on the court in the previous four days and for about eight hours in three days.”
“After playing for so long, I am aware that my endurance might have worn out in a typical women’s match. I did, however, feel really energetic all day today for some reason. I knew I would fight to the very end, even if the match stretched into a third set.”
“I thought I could play for my nation for three more hours, even if that meant playing. I’m really proud of myself for defeating the world champion in the Olympic arena.”
With a commanding start to the second set, Swiatek, the five-time grand slam winner, was poised to force a decisive tiebreaker against Zheng. From a 0–4 deficit, though, Zheng rallied to win the match and advance the overwhelming favorite to the bronze medal round.
It’s the first defeat at Roland Garros for Iga Swiatek since 2021.
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Zheng, the sixth seed, will compete for the gold medal against either Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia or Donna Vekic of Croatia. Before this encounter, the Chinese player had a 0–6 record against Swiatek.
For the bronze medal game, Swiatek will play the loser of Vekic vs. Schmiedlova.
Before now, Swiatek had won four matches and barely lost any of them as she swept through the competition.
Before being forced to quit on Wednesday due to pressure from Danielle Collins, the Pole had been playing with carefree confidence in her early matches of the tournament at home on the clay.
On this court, though, Zheng had caused her problems before. After Taking the opening set from Swiatek in 2022, the current world No. 7 won the next two sets and eventually overcame the WTA Tour rookie.
Zheng’s journey to the final has been a little more eventful. She made it through tiebreakers in the last two rounds, including the quarterfinal encounter on Wednesday where she ended the career of German player Angelique Kerber.
