Tennis | Zheng Qinwen wins singles gold

(Paris) Zheng Qinwen won China’s first singles gold medal at the Olympics by defeating Croatian Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-3 in the women’s tennis tournament final on Saturday.

Zheng, 21, showed the same powerful serves and baseline strokes she used to knock off world No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland in the semifinals to claim the biggest title of her career.

It’s not as if Zheng has never shown the extent of her potential. After all, she is ranked seventh in the WTA and was a finalist at the Australian Open in January, won by Aryna Sabalenka.

But the triumph could make her a star at home. Li Na, a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, is the only Chinese player to win a Grand Slam singles title — at the 2011 French Open and 2014 Australian Open — and was an inspiration to Zheng as a child.

“It’s just unreal,” Zheng said after signing numerous autographs for the crowd.

Serbian Novak Djokovic will face Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in the final of the men’s singles tournament on Sunday.

The tennis matches at the Paris Olympics are played at Roland Garros, which is also the home of the French Open. Swiatek is a three-time defending champion at the event and had won her last 25 matches on the Paris clay before meeting Zheng.

Swiatek took the bronze medal.

Vekic, a 28-year-old player who occupies number 21^e world-ranked, wins the silver medal. She was a semifinalist at Wimbledon last month, then beat second-seeded U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff in the third round in Paris.

There were moments when Vekic looked exhausted, leaning over and leaning on her racket to catch her breath.

Just before Zheng’s first serve in the match, on Court Philippe-Chatrier, many spectators shouted “Jia You!” in Mandarin while waving the Chinese flag. The phrase literally means “Add oil!” and is roughly equivalent to “Come on!”

The screams started again right after Vekic’s rebound into the net gave Zheng the first point. And they rang out again and again, every time things went Zheng’s way throughout the game on a windy, cloudy afternoon.

Zheng had 10 of the first 12 points en route to a 3-0 lead before Vekic finally won a game.

Gold for Ebden and Peers in men’s doubles

Earlier, Australians Matt Ebden and John Peers won the doubles gold medal.

Ebden and Peers beat Americans Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram 6-7 (6), 7-6 (1), 10-8 in the Olympic men’s doubles final to secure Australia’s second Olympic gold medal.

Ebden and Peers trailed 4-2 in the second set before breaking Ram’s serve to start the comeback. Their gold medal follows Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde’s men’s doubles victory in Atlanta in 1996.

“It’s more than a dream. I never dreamed of winning a gold medal when I was younger,” Ebden said. “In the last few years, I’ve had some great success in doubles. It gave me a lot of confidence coming here.”

Ebden caught the eye early in these Olympics, coming on as a spare in the singles and being crushed 6-0, 6-1 by Djokovic.

Ram, 40, who lives in Indiana, was trying to become the oldest player to win a gold medal in tennis at the Olympics — men’s or women’s, singles or doubles — since the sport returned to the Summer Games in 1988.

He and Krajicek were also trying to become the third American duo to win men’s doubles gold. The most recent triumph came in London in 2012, thanks to twins Bob and Mike Bryan.

Peers won a bronze medal in mixed doubles with compatriot Ashleigh Barty at the Tokyo Games. He said his eldest daughter wanted gold instead.

“They’re going to be talking about this until we’re 100 years old,” Peers said.

Later Saturday, the American duo of Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul defeated the Czechs Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek in straight sets of 6-3, 6-4 to claim the bronze medal.

Machac and Katerina Siniakova won the gold medal in mixed doubles on Friday evening.