List of records broken by Qinwen Zheng after winning Gold at Paris Olympics Women’s Singles event

Qinwen Zheng has become the first Chinese player to win an Olympic gold in tennis, after beating Donna Vekic in the final in Paris.

List of records broken by Qinwen Zheng after winning Gold at Paris Olympics Women’s Singles event

Qinwen Zheng (Image via Imago)

16 years after Li Na’s semifinal run at the Beijing Olympics, China’s Qinwen Zheng became the first player from her country to reach an Olympic final in tennis. She followed it up by going all the way and becoming the first Chinese player to win a gold medal in the sport, defeating Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-3.

On Thursday (August 1), she swept aside top seed and four-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek in one of the biggest upsets of the year. However, in her quarterfinal match against Angelique Kerber, she had to save match points and battle for over three hours to stay alive in the tournament.

Since Li Na’s Australian Open singles triumph in 2014, this is China’s best result in tennis. Li Na was a trailblazer for Chinese tennis and Zheng is following in her footsteps. Earlier this year, she became the fourth Chinese player to ever reach the semifinals of a Major at the Australian Open, after Zheng Jie, Li Na, and Peng Shuai.

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At the same event, she reached the final and became just the second Chinese woman to reach the Australian Open final, ten years after Li Na. In doing so, she again matched her compatriot’s success by becoming the only woman other than the legend to reach the top ten.

She made up for the loss in that final by winning one of the most prestigious sporting events, the Summer Olympics. Li Na had placed fourth when the Olympics were held in China and Zheng has overtaken her idol for the first time in becoming a gold medalist.

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Qinwen Zheng becomes first-ever Chinese player to win Olympic Gold in tennis after dominant win over Donna Vekic
Qinwen Zheng

Chinese tennis players break all barriers at the 2024 Olympics 

Ahead of this year’s Summer Games, China remained one of the most successful Olympic countries. However, success in tennis at the Games had always eluded the country, until now. This year, their players created history and earned two medals in a tournament filled with sensational upsets. 

Xinyu Wang
Xinyu Wang (via Imago)

In the mixed doubles quarterfinal, Zhizhen Zhang and Xinyu Wang stunned the Australian pair of Matthew Ebden and Ellen Perez 6-7(8), 7-6(8), 10-5 in one of the closest matches of the tournament. They then upset Wesley Koolhof and Demi Schuur of the Netherlands in another three-setter in the semifinals to reach the final.

In the final, they fell just short in the deciding match tiebreak, claiming the silver medal after a 2-6, 7-5, 8-10 defeat. This was China’s first medal in tennis. Every match that the pair played in the tournament went right to the wire and was decided in a tiebreak. 

On the singles side, Qinwen Zheng made history by dominating the last two rounds en route to China’s maiden tennis gold.

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