Iga Swiatek may still win a medal at the Paris Olympics, but it will not be the gold she coveted.
In an unsettled, error-strewn performance at Roland Garros, where she has won the French Open in four of the past five years, the Polish world No 1 slipped to a shock straight-sets loss to Qinwen Zheng of China. The defeat ends a run of 25 straight victories for Swiatek on the Parisian clay, where she was last beaten by Maria Sakkari in 2021.
With her 6-2, 7-5 victory, her sole success in seven meetings with Swiatek, Zheng becomes the first Chinese player in history to reach an Olympic singles final. The 21-year-old, a debutant at the Games, will now face either Donna Vekic or Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in Saturday’s final.
“I finally showed I could beat the world No 1 on her best surface, at Roland Garros,” said Zheng, who pushed Swiatek to a decider in the last 16 of the French Open two summers ago. “That means everything, because I always knew I could do it. But it’s different that you know you can and that you show it. Today, I really showed it. I’m so proud of myself. I am so proud for my country.”
Swiatek too feels the pride of playing for her country, perhaps a little too keenly. Her father, Tomasz, rowed for Poland in the Seoul Olympics of 1988, competing in the quadruple sculls, and family history appeared to weigh heavily on her here, just as it did three years ago in Tokyo, when she was inconsolable following a second-round loss to Paula Badosa.
If there were any doubt about how much the chance to compete for a gold medal at her favourite venue meant to the 23-year-old, it was dispelled by the evident anxiety in her play. By the 36 unforced errors she made, many of them on her normally uber-reliable backhand. By the way she was unable to capitalise on a 4-0 lead in the second set. By her inability to deal with Zheng’s changes of pace. By the way she broke down afterwards in an interview with Eurosport Poland before declining to speak to the written press.
“I had a hole in my backhand,” said Swiatek, who certainly could have done without the horrible shanked return off that wing that cost her the chance to bring up two break points as Zheng served for the match. “It happens rarely, because it’s usually my most solid stroke.
“I was not technically well positioned because of the stress, and the fact that I played my games day by day. We didn’t have time to adjust that and work on that. I know that’s not the justification, but I tried to correct that during the match. Today, it didn’t work at all. So she used that to win the game.”
Whatever the deficiencies in Swiatek’s game on the day, the excellence of Zheng was undeniable. She handled the pressure of the occasion magnificently, playing with clarity and purpose when she fell behind in the second set, and showed the courage of her convictions in the key moments. That was never more apparent than when Swiatek held a break point to send the second set into a tiebreak. Just as she had done late in her victory over Angelique Kerber in the previous round, Zheng conjured a wonderful drop shot to turn the tide back in her favour, wrong-footing Swiatek, who could not control her attempted pick-up. Moments later, Zheng was falling back in triumph on the clay, another echo of her win against Kerber.
“From 4-0, I think the key was just to play every single point,” said Zheng. “I remember before when I was at this stage, I [would] let it go. I [would] say, ‘OK, I’ve lost this set, let’s fight for the third.’ But today, no. I didn’t have this mentality. I said, ‘I’m just going to fight every single point. Let’s see what’s going to happen. I’m going to play smart, wait for my chance.’ Little by little, I started to get back into the match.”
On Saturday, Zheng, the runner-up at this year’s Australian Open, will bring that newfound mental steel into what she will surely regard as the biggest match of her career. On this evidence, she will take some stopping.