Zheng wins women’s Tennis singles gold for China
Zheng Qinwen beat Donna Vekic in straight sets to win Olympic women’s singles gold for China in Paris.
Zheng, who lost in the Australian Open final in January, was a 6-2 6-3 winner on Court Philippe Chatrier at Roland Garros.
The 21-year-old raced into a 3-0 lead in the first set against Croatian world number 21 Vekic and converted her first set point, also on the Vekic serve.
The second set was a much tighter affair, but Zheng – ranked seventh in the world – broke in a pivotal eighth game before serving out the match.
Vekic, 28, was appearing in the gold medal match less than a month after narrowly missing out on the Wimbledon final, losing her semi-final to Jasmine Paolini in a deciding set tie-break.
In the men’s bronze medal match, Italian Lorenzo Musetti came out victorious in a deciding third set.
Musetti took a tight opening set 6-4, before Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime emphatically took the second 6-1.
But, after seeing a number of break opportunities saved midway through the final set, Musetti eventually broke in the eighth game to serve it out 6-3 and take the bronze medal.
Matthew Ebden and John Peers fought back from a set and a break down against America’s Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram to win Olympic gold for Australia in the men’s doubles in Paris. In the first-to-10 match tie-break, they wrapped up a 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (7-1) 10-8 victory with their fourth match point.
Peers, a former doubles partner of Great Britain’s Jamie Murray, adds a gold medal to the bronze he claimed in the mixed doubles alongside Ash Barty in Tokyo.
Ram, 40, missed out on his first Olympic gold, having won four Grand Slam doubles titles alongside Briton Joe Salisbury.
The USA later claimed bronze too as Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul, who beat Great Britain’s Andy Murray and Dan Evans at the quarter-final stage, defeated Czech duo Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek 6-3 6-4.