Zheng Qinwen defeated Donna Vekic to become China’s first Olympic tennis singles champion.
Zheng, who reached her first Grand Slam final at the Australian Open earlier this year, ended Iga Swiatek’s three-year unbeaten run at Roland Garros in the semi-finals to guarantee herself a medal.
And, although the final was tighter than the scoreline suggested, Zheng ensured she took top spot on the podium by seeing off Croatian Vekic 6-2 6-3, with Swiatek having to settle for bronze.
“Nothing can describe my feelings right now,” Zheng said on court before the medals ceremony.
“It’s unreal, I was hoping to get a medal for China and I made it, I got the gold. I did everything I could.
“I fought every single match, I feel like I had special energy and lots of support. My country will be proud and my family who I know will be screaming at home by the TV.”
Poland’s Iga Swiatek finished with the bronze medal after beating Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-2 6-1 on Friday.
Gold in the men’s doubles went to Australian veterans Matt Ebden and John Peers, who defeated American duo Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram 6-7 (8-6) 7-6 (7-1) (10-8) in an extremely tight final.
Ebden’s Olympics began with a 6-0 6-1 drubbing in singles by Novak Djokovic after he took up an alternate position despite not having played a match in the format for two years.
“Last night, I was actually dreaming of an Instagram post: how it started, and how it’s going,” said the 36-year-old.
“I was thinking of my score eight days ago, winning one game. And then I was thinking ‘swipe right’ and there’s a gold medal photo. Maybe I’ll have to make that post at some point.
“I’m super happy to get the reward because you don’t always get the reward for your hard work, but when you do it’s pretty sweet.”
Bronze also went to an American pair with Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul, who ended Andy Murray’s career two days ago, defeating mixed doubles gold medallist Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek of the Czech Republic 6-3 6-4.
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