Paris
CNN
 — 

Iga Świątek, the Polish world No. 1 and top seed in this tournament, lost in the semifinals Thursday to China’s Zheng Qinwen, a massive upset in the women’s tennis singles competition.

Świątek went down in straight sets: 6-2, 7-5. She’s been a force at Roland Garros. She is the three-time defending French Open champion and also hoisted the trophy here in 2020.

Świątek – a dominant force on clay who has four French Open titles at just the age of 23 – entered the Paris Olympics as the overwhelming favorite to win gold given the tournament was hosted at her favored ground and on her favorite surface.

Zheng jumped out to a dominant first set win, but five-time grand slam winner Świątek looked set to force a deciding tiebreaker with a roaring start to the second. But Zheng climbed all the way back from 0-4 down, sending the heavy favorite off to the bronze medal match.

It’s Świątek’s first loss at Roland Garros since 2021.

Zheng, the No. 6 seed, will face either Donna Vekić of Croatia or Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová in the gold medal match. The Chinese star was 0-6 against Świątek before this match

Świątek will face the loser of the match between Vekić and Schmiedlová in the bronze medal match.

Świątek had cruised through the tournament to this point, dropping one set in her previous four matches. At home on the clay, the Pole had been playing with a breezy confidence in her opening matches of the tournament until being pushed by Danielle Collins on Wednesday to a tiebreaker before the American was forced to retire.

But Zheng had given her trouble on this court in the past. In 2022, the now world No. 7 took the first set from Świątek, who rallied after that to eventually ease past the then-newcomer to the WTA Tour.

Zheng has had a bit more dramatic path to the final. She survived the last two matches in tiebreakers, including ending German Angelique Kerber’s career on Wednesday in the quarterfinals.

This story has been updated with additional information.