Zheng Qinwen becomes first Asian Olympic tennis singles gold medalist

Chinese athletes finished Saturday's competitions at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics with three gold and three silver medals. The most high-profile victory was by Zheng Qinwen, who won the women's singles tennis gold medal at Roland Garros.

After beating Donna Vekic of Croatia 6-2, 6-3, Zheng became the first Chinese and first Asian player to stand on the top of the podium in an Olympic singles tennis event. Her victory also marked China's second tennis gold in the history of the Games after Li Na and Sun Tiantian won the women's doubles title in Athens in 2004.

"Right now I feel super excited," Zheng said after the final. "Because before the Olympic Games, I haven't thought I got to win the gold medal. I always have expectations since 2022 for this Olympic Games, but the moment I won this gold medal, nothing can describe this feeling because I have been working so hard for this moment, representing the country. And I'm so happy to become the first one and make the history for China." 

"Li Na inspired me a lot when I was a child," Zheng added. "She put the dream seed inside me when she won her first Grand Slams, when she broke the records for Asian girls in tennis. Right now, here I am. I'm really happy to become the first one to win the Olympic medal for China in tennis. And I hope that my achievement can inspire more young kids, make them love tennis, because I always feel tennis is such a great sport."

Chen Meng and Sun Yingsha earned the gold and silver medals in the women's singles table tennis event after playing each other in the final. Chen defeated Sun 4-2 to defend her title from the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games in 2021. Chinese players have dominated this event for 10 straight editions of the Olympics.

The women's doubles badminton final featured a "Chinese Derby" as well. Tokyo Games silver medalists Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan beat Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning 22-20, 22-15 to win their first Olympic title.

China's third silver came in the mixed 4×100-meter medley relay final. Xu Jiayu, Qin Haiyang, Zhang Yufei and Yang Junxuan finished the race in 3:57.55, breaking the Asian record and coming in second behind the USA, who set the new world record in 3:37.43. Australia earned bronze in 3:38.76.

Zhang and Wu Qingfeng also advanced to the women's 50-meter freestyle final. Zhang finished the semifinals in fourth place in 24.24 seconds while Wu ranked seventh in 24.40 seconds.

Yang Wenlu will fight for the women's 60-kilogram division boxing gold medal after beating Wu Shih-yi of Chinese Taipei 5-0 in the semifinals.