Paris Olympics: World No. 1 Iga Swiatek stunned by China’s Zheng Qinwen in semifinal

Iga Swiatek has been the monster of Roland Garros over the past five years. The Olympics turned out to be a different challenge.

Playing on the same surface where she has won four French Open titles since 2020, Swiatek was stunned by China’s Zheng Qinwen 6-2, 7-5 in the semifinals of the women’s singles draw, bouncing out the heavy favorite to take gold.

Swiatek will now face the loser of the other semifinal match between Slovakia’s Anna Schmiedlova and Croatia’s Donna Vekic in the bronze medal match.

Zheng was hardly an out-of-nowhere competitor as the No. 7 player in the WTA rankings, but the 21-year-old was a heavy underdog with a 0-6 record against Swiatek. She was also facing a player who had won the French Open at the same stadium only two months ago, with a 32-2 total record in Paris. And she had to survive match point in her previous match against American Anna Navarro to reach the quarterfinals.