Zheng Qinwen captures China's first Olympic gold in singles tennis

PARIS -- Zheng Qinwen became the first Chinese player to win an Olympic tennis singles gold medal when she beat Croatia's Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-3 in a tense final at Roland Garros on Saturday.

The 21-year-old sixth seed was given raucous support by a sizeable Chinese contingent inside Court Philippe Chatrier and responded with a composed performance.

Vekic, herself bidding to become Croatia's first Olympic singles champion, battled hard to try to turn around the match but Zheng deservedly claimed the biggest result of her career.

Serving for the match at 5-3, Zheng reached match points as Vekic drove a backhand wide and finished it off with a well-placed forehand winner before falling to her back with joy.

Poland's Iga Swiatek, the pre-tournament favorite but beaten by Zheng in the semifinals, finished with the bronze medal after beating Slovakia's Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-2, 6-1 on Friday.

Also on Saturday, Australian duo Matthew Ebden and John Peers won the gold medal in the Olympic tennis men's doubles as they beat American pair Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram 6-7 (6), 7-6 (1), 10-8.

After dropping their first set of the week, the two 36-year-olds also trailed 4-2 in the second set but recovered the momentum to set up a super tiebreak.

The Australians moved 9-5 ahead but were pegged back to 9-8 before Peers produced an ice-cool volley after his serve and then pounded away a smash to seal victory.

It is only Australia's second Olympic tennis gold after Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde won in Atlanta in 1996.

Peers added gold to the bronze he claimed in the mixed doubles alongside Ash Barty at the Tokyo Games.

The Americans, with 40-year-old Ram, one of three former doubles world No. 1s on court, showed his quality.

But he dropped serve at 4-3 in the second set and that proved a turning point in the match as the Australians raced through the second-set tiebreak to set up a decider.

A remarkable pick-up by Peers saw the Australian almost end up in the front row of Court Phillipe Chatrier and Krajicek then sent a smash wide to make it 7-2 in the first-to-10 decider.

The U.S. pair saved three match points to leave Peers with a serve for gold. With his daughter crossing her fingers in the stands, he finished the job to start the Australian party.

The bronze medal match will be between Americans Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul and Czech duo Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek later at Roland Garros.

--Reuters, Special to Field Level Media