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China's Zheng Qinwen clinched gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics after beating Croatia's Donna Vekic in the final. Qinwen made history by winning China's first Olympic singles gold medal in tennis.
Fans are now in awe of the 21-year-old's incredible achievement.
She opened her campaign with a double-bagel over Italy's Sara Errani. Next, she defeated Dutch Arantxa Rus in straight sets before defeating Emma Navarro and Angelique Kerber in three sets.
In the semifinal, Qinwen faced her toughest test, against Poland's Iga Swiatek. The WTA No. 1 was a favorite to win the gold medal considering her phenomenal run at Roland Garros: she was on a 25-match winning streak before Qinwen defeated her in straight sets to advance to the final.
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In the gold medal match, the Chinese pulled off a dominant 6-2, 6-3 win over Croatia's Donna Vekic. Court Philippe-Chatrier rejoiced with the Chinese as the nation's flags, big and small, were waved in huge numbers in support of her achievement. Accolades poured in from fans online as well.
"Thoroughly thoroughly deserved... If you can beat a determined Iga Swiatek on Roland Garros, then you deserve to take the Gold... Congratulations," one fan wrote.
"Just incredible, huge congratulations!!!" wrote another.
"Congratulations to Queen Wen, she is amazing," a third fan posted
Here are some more fan reactions to Zheng Qinwen's historic triumph:
"History maker; first gold medalist in Chinese tennis history! Hopefully, this achievement will be the turnaround in his career. She has the talent for greatness," one fan wrote.
"Happy for Zheng and China to win their first gold in this event. This is huge for her career. She’s such a good player. I expected more from Vekic, though. That was a relatively easy score line," another fan wrote.
"china winning a gold & a silver in tennis, incredible," a third fan wrote.
On Saturday, Chinese mixed doubles pair Zhizhen Zhang and Wang Xinyu won the silver medal after losing in the final against Czech Republic's Tomas Machac and Katerina Siniakova.
"I never felt so hungry like this to win a match" - Zheng Qinwen wanted to give it her all to win gold at Paris Olympics
Qinwen's gold medal comes 20 years after China's first Olympic gold in tennis. At the 2004 Athens Games, China's Ting Li and Sun Tiantian won women's doubles gold.
Following the result, Qinwen admitted she was nervous during every match.
"The last point, I'm really nervous. My hand is shaking, actually!... Actually every match, when I go to the bathroom, my body is shaking. I never felt so hungry like this to win a match, and I wanted to give everything that I have," Qinwen said.
"I know tennis doesn't work like this, that you don't always get the result you want but I feel super proud of myself that this time, I beat the pressure and the limits of myself," she added.
In the bronze medal match, Poland's Iga Swiatek defeated Slovakia's Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-1.
