Olympic tennis 2024: Zheng Qinwen, Donna Vekic to face off in gold medal match
The women’s singles bracket at the 2024 Paris Olympics will wrap up with one of Zheng Qinwen of China or Donna Vekic of Croatia winning a gold medal, while Iga Swiatek and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova battle for bronze.
After a huge upset in the semifinals, the end of the Olympic tennis women’s singles bracket is in sight. The gold medal will come down to two players few predicted would be in this position: sixth-seeded Zheng Qinwen of China and Donna Vekic of Croatia.
This also means the bronze medal matchup, currently scheduled for Friday, will feature top seed Iga Swiatek of Poland and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia.
Zheng, 21, was considered a legitimate threat to Swiatek, but few saw her straight sets victory over the clay court specialist coming. Swiatek had been dominant on the clay of Roland Garros, having won three consecutive titles at Roland Garros, home of the French Open. She was considered the favorite to take home her first gold medal, after a middling performance in the 2020 Olympics, before she really broke out.
But Zheng had other ideas, dropping Swiatek in straight sets, 6-2, 7-5. Zheng was pushed to three sets in the previous round against Angelique Kerber of Germany, and hadn’t beaten Swiatek in six previous career meetings, including two on clay. Zheng’s performance in the Olympics hasn’t come completely out of nowhere though, as she made it to the final of the Australian Open earlier this year, her best showing in a Grand Slam to date.
Vekic, 28, entered the Olympics with a singles ranking of 21 in the world. She’s not considered a clay court specialist, and has only made it as far as the fourth round of the French Open, back in 2019. Her best performance came this year and just before the Olympics, when she made it to the semifinals on the grass courts of Wimbledon.
She wasted no time in downing Schmiedlova on Thursday, taking her out in straight sets, 6-4, 6-0.
In the past, Vekic and Zheng have faced each other just two times, splitting the meetings. They have only ever faced each other on hard courts, as well, while the clay of Roland Garros is untested in their head-to-head history.
For the bronze medal matchup, Swiatek will try and make up for what will be universally considered a missed opportunity. She faces Schmiedlova, a woman with more experience but far less success at the highest level than her. While Swiatek has won the French Open four times (on these very courts) and the US Open once, Schmiedlova has no major titles to her name.
Schmiedlova’s best performance in a Grand Slam was a fourth-round appearance at the French Open in 2023. She has never faced Swiatek in singles competition. Their bronze medal matchup is set for Friday, Aug. 2, while Zheng and Vekic will meet in the gold medal match on Saturday, Aug. 3.
Women’s Olympic tennis medal matchups
Bronze medal match: No. 1 Iga Swiatek vs. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (Friday)
Gold medal match: No. 6 Zheng Qinwen vs. Donna Vekic (Saturday)