By Martyn Herman
PARIS (Reuters) – Iga Swiatek must wait four more years to try and win an Olympic gold medal after the Polish top seed was shocked by China’s Zheng Qinwen in the semi-finals but Novak Djokovic’s hopes are intact despite a scare on Thursday.
There will be a first-time Olympic men’s singles champion after Tokyo winner Alexander Zverev crashed to a quarter-final defeat against Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti.
Swiatek was the overwhelming favourite for gold after a third successive French Open title this year confirmed her as the Queen of Clay, but she was outplayed 6-2 7-5 by sixth seed Zheng on another sultry day at Roland Garros.
Serbia’s 37-year-old Djokovic, bidding to claim a long-overdue Olympic gold medal, reached the semi-finals for the fourth time as he beat Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3 7-6, although he appeared to troubled by his suspect right knee.
In snapping Swiatek’s 25-match winning run at Roland Garros, dating back to 2021, Australian Open runner-up Zheng became the first Chinese player to reach an Olympic singles final.
Zheng, who did not even have to bring her A-game against a badly off-key Swiatek, will face either Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova or Croatia’s Donna Vekic for the gold medal. Swiatek will have to console herself with a match for a bronze.
“I’m so happy that I could make history for Chinese tennis because I always wanted to be one of the athletes who can get a medal for China, for our country,” 21-year-old Zheng said.
“Right now I’m one of them, but I know the fight is not over it’s not the end.”
NAMES MISSING
With so many big names missing from the Olympic singles and with several seeds having wilted early, Swiatek was odds on to add the Olympic gold to her five Grand Slam titles.
She held a 6-0 career record against Zheng, but the 23-year-old Swiatek picked the worst possible time to produce one of her worst displays of the year, spraying 36 unforced errors.
Swiatek was in tears during a TV interview afterwards.
“I just had a hole in my backhand. It happens rarely because it is usually my most solid strike,” she told Eurosport Poland.
Swiatek looked uncomfortable in the hot and humid conditions, struggling to find her range with shots often missing the lines by metres as the first set slid away.
After a bathroom break to re-set she seemed to have regained control in the second as she went 4-0 ahead.
But it proved a false dawn as the errors returned and Zheng took full advantage to claw her way back and surpass China’s best Olympic result, Li Na’s fourth place at Beijing 2008.
IMPERIOUS DJOKOVIC
Men’s top seed Djokovic was imperious as he won the first set against Tsitsipas. But he went a break down in the second and more worryingly appeared to have aggravated the knee that required surgery after the French Open.
He needed treatment at a change of ends and almost went 5-1 down before recovering and surging back to seal victory.
Djokovic will now aim to snap his semi-final curse and beat Musetti who was a 7-5 7-5 winner against Zverev.
“I didn’t feel good the whole week. And the second round, I felt horrible on the court. I felt horrible today by the end of the first set,” third seed Zverev said. “It’s upsetting.”
Spain’s Olympic debutant Carlos Alcaraz remained on course for gold as battled past American Tommy Paul into the semi-finals, winning 6-3 7-6(7) after saving a set point.
Alcaraz will play Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime who beat Norwegian claycourt specialist Casper Ruud 6-4 6-7(8) 6-3.
United States duo Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek followed up their defeat of Spain’s Alcaraz and Rafa Nadal the previous evening to book their place in the final as they overcame Czech pairing Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek 6-2 6-2.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; additional reporting by Sybille de la Hamaide; Editing by Toby Davis, Christian Radnedge and Ken Ferris)
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