PARIS: Zheng Qinwen ended Iga Swiatek's 25-match winning streak at Roland Garros on Thursday and became the first Chinese player to reach an Olympic singles final, while Carlos Alcaraz moved ever closer to a showdown with Novak Djokovic.
Defending champion Alexander Zverev, however, was eliminated, losing his quarterfinal against an angry Italian Lorenzo Musetti.
Seventh-seeded Zheng triumphed 6-2, 7-5 over world number one Swiatek and will face either Croatia's Donna Vekic or Slovakia's Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the gold medal match. “I'm more than happy – happy is not enough to describe how I feel,” said Zheng, who played two consecutive three-hour matches to reach the semifinals.
“If you asked me to play for my country for another three hours, I would. It was an incredible game. Beating Iga is not easy.”
Swiatek, a four-time French Open champion at Roland Garros, entered the match on the scorching hot Court Philippe Chatrier having not lost in Paris since 2021.
The 23-year-old had also defeated Zheng in all six of their previous encounters.
However, she was forced off the court by the powerful 21-year-old Australian Open finalist, who suffered three breaks in the first set against the Pole.
Swiatek seemed to recover after a 10-minute break and quickly extended her lead to 4-0 in the second set before Zheng fought back and won both breaks to level the score at 4-4.
The Chinese star managed another break against the error-plagued Swiatek and took a 6-5 lead before winning the next game.
By reaching the final, Zheng became the first Chinese woman or man to reach an Olympic singles gold medal match, extending the streak set by Li Na, who finished fourth in the women's event in Beijing in 2008.
China's only Olympic gold in tennis came from Li Ting and Sun Tiantian in the women's doubles in Athens in 2004.
Alcaraz, back at Roland Garros where he won his first French Open in June, became the youngest Olympic semifinalist since Djokovic in 2008.
The second-seeded player defeated 13th-seeded American Tommy Paul 6-3, 7-6 (9/7) after recovering from a break deficit in the second set and fending off a set point in the tiebreak.
“It's all about the fight,” said Alcaraz, playing a day after a heartbreaking doubles loss to Rafael Nadal, likely the veteran's last appearance at Roland Garros.
The 21-year-old will fight against either Casper Ruud or Felix Auger-Aliassime for a place in the final.
Wimbledon semi-finalist Musetti surprised Zverev 7-5, 7-5 after 20 winners and continued his stormy run at the Olympic Games.
The 22-year-old played a tour final in Umag, Croatia, on Saturday evening and only arrived in Paris on Sunday morning, just hours before his first-round match.
Musetti reached the semifinals without dropping a set, becoming the first Italian to reach the singles semifinals since tennis returned to the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
The Italian will face either number one seed Djokovic, who defeated him in the Wimbledon semifinals, or Stefanos Tsitsipas for a place in the gold medal match.
Djokovic, still looking for an Olympic gold medal to add to his 24 Grand Slam titles, will face Tsitsipas on the same court where he recovered from a two-set deficit to defeat the Greek in the 2021 French Open final.
The Serb has easily survived the first three rounds in Paris and is encouraged by his 11-2 record in the direct comparison with Tsitsipas.
That run also included victory in the final of the 2023 Australian Open, while Tsitsipas' last win over Djokovic came in 2019.
Paul will return to the court later on Thursday when he faces Taylor Fritz in the men's doubles quarter-finals, which could mean the end of Andy Murray's career.
Murray and Dan Evans will face the third-seeded Americans for a place in the semifinals.
Murray, a former world number one and three-time Grand Slam singles winner, has already announced that he wants to end his career after the Olympic Games.
The 37-year-old and Evans have had a rollercoaster ride at the Olympics so far, fending off seven match points in two rounds.
