Zheng Qinwen of the People’s Republic of China defeated Croatia’s Donna Vekic in straight sets to capture the women’s tennis singles gold medal at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, 6-2, 6-3. On Friday, 2 August, Iga Swiatek of Poland beat Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova to claim the bronze medal in two sets, 6-2, 6-1.

In her first Olympics, the 21-year-old became the first Chinese player to win a gold medal in singles. In the semi-final, she defeated Swiatek, who is the world No. 1 in women’s singles. Appearing in her second Games, Vekic was coming off a strong run to the semi-finals at Wimbledon but was unable to match the sharpness of Qinwen on Saturday.

Qinwen won the first set comfortably before taking a 2-0 lead in the second. Vekic responded, tying the set at two games apiece before Qinwen seperated once again with a 5-3 lead. Reaching match and medal point, Qinwen crushed a forehand past a lunging Vekic to capture the title.