Qinwen Zheng celebrates match point during the final match against Donna Vekic. GETTY IMAGES

She arrived at Paris 2024 as the number six seed. She was a medal contender. She beat Croatia's Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-3 in the final. In men's doubles, the gold went to Australia's Matthew Ebden and John Peers. The United States took silver and bronze.

Tennis is almost over at the Games. We are now in the finals, and the women's singles has crowned China's Zheng Qinwen as the new Olympic champion. She has won in one hour and 45 minutes to the Croatian Donna Vekic. The score, 6-2, 6-3, gives the impression of an easy match, but it was not so easy.

The Chinese player has started dominating each of the two sets. She broke her opponent's serve and that quickly put her in the lead. In the first set, that has been decisive. Vekic was not able to return the break, although she fought the last game, which has extended the set. But she gave up her serve for the second time and had to concentrate on the second set.



Qinwen repeated in the second set to go 2-0 up again. But this time Vekic responded with another break and the set was equal. The Chinese managed to break Vekic's serve again at the decisive moment. She was 5-3 and with her serve she closed the match.

In 2022 she was Asian Games champion. This year she reached the final of the Australian Open, but lost to Belarusian Aryna Sabalina. She is ranked No. 7 in the WTA rankings and has now won her first major world title at the age of 21.

Vekic, 28, won the silver medal after a great tournament. The big surprise came when she knocked out American Coco Gauff, the world number two, in the third round. The bronze was won by world number one Iga Swiatek on Friday after defeating Slovakia's Anna Schmiedlova.

The podium of the Tennis Women's Singles in the medal ceremony. GETTY IMAGES
The podium of the Tennis Women's Singles in the medal ceremony. GETTY IMAGES

Gold for Australia in men's doubles

Prior to the women's singles, the medal finals in the men's doubles were being contested. The Australian pair of Matthew Ebden and John Peers won gold in a thrilling final against the Americans Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram.



In the first set there was no break of serve, so everything was decided in the tie-break. There the Americans took the lead, but the Australians managed to level the score, 6-6. Krajicek and Ram won the point with their serve and broke their opponents to take the first set.

The Americans did manage a break in the third game of the second set, which brought them closer to gold. But Ebden and Peers broke back in the eighth game to make it 4-4, and the tie-break was again decisive. Here the Australians gave them no option, winning 7-1 and tying the match.

The super tie-break had to decide. The Australians were once again far superior. In this case you have to win 10 points and not seven, and Ebden and Peers went 9-5. Four match balls. Krajicek and Ram gave excitement saving the first three, but in the fourth they could not resist any more.

The United States also took the bronze medal. Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul won the final for the medal against the Czechs Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek. In this case, without much excitement. They took an early lead in the first set and that was enough for them to settle quickly. In the second, they broke their opponents' first serve and then defended theirs to win 6-3, 6-4.

Men's individual bronze for Musetti

Italy's Lorenzo Musetti has claimed Olympic glory with a bronze medal. His opponent, Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime, arrived with the peace of mind of having won the bronze in mixed doubles, but with the illusion of leaving Paris with two medals.

Musetti began dominating the match, breaking his opponent's serve right from the start. Auger-Aliassime broke back in the eighth game of the match, but lost his serve in the next game and the Italian took advantage to close out the first set on his serve. 6-4.

Auger-Aliassime's reaction was immediate. He ran over his opponent and won the second set 6-1. The third set had both players very confident serving. The possibility of the match going to a tie-break was beginning to appear. But Musetti broke serve in the eighth game and closed out the match on his next serve for the 6-3 final. Tomorrow he will be on the final podium. 

Lorenzo Musetti won the bronze medal. GETTY IMAGES
Lorenzo Musetti won the bronze medal. GETTY IMAGES

The tennis concludes on Sunday at Roland Garros. At 12:00 local time, the women's doubles bronze medal match will take place, with the duel between the Czechs Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova and the Spaniards Cristina Bucsa and Sara Sorribes-Tormo. The men's singles final will be followed by the men's singles final between Serbia's Novak Djokovic and Spain's Carlos Alcaraz. Finally, the women's doubles final, with the Italian pair Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini against the Russians Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider, who are competing as neutral athletes.