China’s Zheng outplays Swiatek in semifinal

Paris — Poland’s world No 1 Iga Swiatek suffered a shock defeat against China’s Zheng Qinwen in the semifinals of the Olympic women’s singles at Roland Garros on Thursday.

Swiatek, the overwhelming favourite for gold after claiming a third successive French Open title this year, was outplayed by the sixth seed, losing 6-2 7-5 on Court Philippe Chatrier.

In snapping Swiatek’s 25-match winning streak at Roland Garros, Australian Open runner-up Zheng became the first Chinese player to reach the singles final at an Olympic tournament.

She will face either Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova or Croatia’s Donna Vekic for the gold medal while Swiatek will have to console herself with a match for a bronze medal.

With so many big names missing from the Olympic singles and with several seeds having already fallen, Swiatek had looked set to add the Olympic gold to her five Grand Slam titles.

She held a 6-0 career record against Zheng, but the 23-year-old Swiatek, known as the queen of clay, was way below her best, spraying errors all over the court — 36 in total.

Swiatek was never in the opening set as she looked uncomfortable in the hot and humid conditions, struggling to find her range with shots missing the lines by metres.

After a bathroom break to reset she seemed to have regained control in the second set as she went 4-0 ahead.

But it proved a false dawn as the errors returned and Zheng took full advantage to claw her way back.

Swiatek dropped serve at 5-5 and Zheng then kept cool as she served for victory — banging a first serve on to the line on match point that her opponent thought had landed out.

A quick check from the umpire confirmed Swiatek’s fate. 

Reuters