Iga Swiatek was defeated by China’s Zheng Qinwen with scores of 6-2, 7-5 in the semifinals of the Paris Olympics on Thursday. This loss is surprising for Swiatek, who is ranked No. 1 and has won the French Open four times in the past five years.
This outcome was unexpected for a few reasons. Swiatek had won all six of their previous matches and has been the top player in the WTA rankings since April 2022, while Zheng is ranked 7th. Swiatek was also ahead 4-0 in the second set before she started to lose her advantage.
What makes this loss even more surprising is that Swiatek is known for her exceptional performance on red clay, especially at Roland Garros, which hosts the French Open and the tennis events at these Olympics.
Zheng, who was the runner-up at the Australian Open in January, has now secured China’s first singles medal in Olympic tennis since the sport was reintroduced to the Games in 1988.
Zheng will play for the gold medal against either 13th-seeded Donna Vekic from Croatia or unseeded Anna Karolina Schmiedlova from Slovakia, who were scheduled to compete on Thursday night at Court Philippe Chatrier.
Vekic had previously defeated No. 2 Coco Gauff, the reigning U.S. Open champion, in the third round.
In the men’s quarterfinals on Thursday, the matches were Novak Djokovic of Serbia vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, and Tokyo Games champion Alexander Zverev of Germany vs. Lorenzo Musetti of Italy in the top half; Carlos Alcaraz of Spain vs. Tommy Paul of the U.S., and Casper Ruud of Norway vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada in the bottom half.
Swiatek had previously beaten Zheng in the same stadium during the fourth round of the 2022 French Open, where Zheng had also won the first set, the only set Swiatek lost during that tournament.
