Paris 2024: Iga Swiatek crashes out of Singles Semis in defeat to Quinwen Zheng

Paris Olympics 

Thursday, 1 August, 2024 

McCreadie Andias 

Polish Top seed Iga Swiatek crashed out of the Paris Olympics women's singles in a straight set defeat to China's Qinwen Zheng on Thursday. 

The world Number one and four time Rolland Garros champion fell 6-2, 7-5 in the semifinals and will now battle it out for Bronze on Friday. 

Swiatek appeared to be getting back into the match with a 4-0 lead in the second set but she faltered giving Zheng a chance to finish the match.

Swiatek entered the match with a green record of six straight victories against the world Number 7. 

The 21-year-old Zheng, the runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka at the Australian Open in January, assured China of its first singles medal in Olympic tennis since the sport returned to the Games in 1988.

In Saturday's gold-medal match, Zheng will face 13th-seeded Donna Vekic of Croatia or unseeded Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia, who were scheduled to face each other Thursday night at Court Philippe Chatrier.

Vekic eliminated No. 2 Coco Gauff, the 20-year-old American who is the reigning U.S. Open champion, in the third round.