Top favorite Iga Swiatek stepped out onto the tennis courts to face Qinwen Zheng of China for a place in the 2024 Paris Olympics final and a chance to win the gold medal, but she lost the match.
This was a semi-final and, as such, a very important match for both players. The difference between winning and losing this match meant contesting for the gold or bronze medal, and that's a major difference at the Olympic Games.
Both players wanted the gold medal, with Swiatek being the overwhelming favorite to win this match. Some preached caution about this matchup because the Chinese player played the Pole close a few years ago at Roland Garros.
In fact she was the only player that gave Swiatek any kind of problems that year at the event. We've seen the Polish player struggle against some other players since then, but Zheng is a Top 10 player with a really strong skillset, so struggling against her is not advisable.
And yet it happened. Similar to some other matches this year at the Olympics, the World No. 1 had a really nervous and slow start. At the start of this match, she misfired badly, hitting the ball wide far too often.
For the most part, Zheng was very solid and stable from the baseline, allowing her to reap the benefits of Swiatek's shaky play. The Chinese player broke her opponent three times in that opening set to win it 6-2.
It was a great display from her, but mostly, it came down to Swiatek missing a lot. She totaled 16 unforced errors and only four winners in eight games of play, which is just not a stat line worthy of an Olympic semi-final.
Obviously, Zheng had something to do with it because she applied heavy pressure, but she also kept the ball in play, which is why she won the set as easily as she did. Still, very few doubted that the four-time French Open champion would go down without a swing, and it didn't happen.
She jumped out to an early lead in the second set and then added another break, taking a 4-0 lead. She was much more stable in rallies and her opponent, seeded sixth, struggled a bit more.
Zheng pulled one of those breaks back and then the other back to make it 3-4. Swiatek again fell into the trap of overhitting too much as the unforced error total in the second set reached 10.
A complicated game followed, with Zheng successfully holding serve to make it 4-4. There was massive pressure on Swiatek to win the next game because if she didn't, her dream of a gold medal would evaporate.
She was able to get it done, but Zheng was able to hold her serve as well. It was still a tight match, and the top seed still didn't look very confident in her hitting as she kept increasing the unforced error numbers.
A few more missed shots, and Zheng broke for a 6-5 lead, giving herself a chance to win the match a strong service game. Swiatek was up 4-0 but found herself down 5-6 in the second set.
Swiatek fought her way to a break point but failed to convert, and after that, Zheng held serve for a major upset, winning the match 6-2, 7-5 to reach the final at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
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