Iga Swiatek. Photo: ANTHONY WALLACE
Iga Swiatek will have to wait four more years to try and win an Olympic gold medal after the Polish top seed was shocked by China's Zheng Qinwen in the semi-finals at Roland Garros, her first loss there since 2021.
Swiatek, the overwhelming favourite for gold after a third successive French Open title this year confirmed her as the Queen of Clay, was outplayed 6-2 7-5 on Court Philippe Chatrier.
In snapping Swiatek's 25-match winning streak at Roland Garros, Australian Open runner-up Zheng became the first Chinese player to reach the singles final at an Olympic tournament.
Zheng, who did not even have to bring her A-game against a badly off-key Swiatek, will face either Slovakia's Anna Karolina Schmiedlova or Croatia's Donna Vekic for the gold medal. Swiatek will have to console herself with a match for a bronze medal.
Zheng Qinwen. Photo: Photosport
"I'm so happy that I could make history for Chinese tennis because I always wanted to be one of the athletes who can get a medal for China, for our country," 21-year-old Zheng said.
"Right now I'm one of them, but I know the fight is not over it's not the end."
There will be a first-time Olympic men's singles champion too after Tokyo gold-medallist Alexander Zverev of Germany was beaten 7-5 7-5 in the quarter-finals by Italy's Lorenzo Musetti.
Spain's Olympic debutant Carlos Alcaraz remained on course for gold though as battled past American Tommy Paul, winning 6-3 7-6(7) after saving a set point in the tiebreak.
Serbian top seed Novak Djokovic continues his bid for a long-awaited Olympic title later against Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas while Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime was taking on Norwegian claycourt specialist Casper Ruud.
With so many big names missing from the Olympic singles and with several seeds having already fallen, Swiatek had looked odds on to add the Olympic gold to her five Grand Slam titles.
She held a 6-0 career record against Zheng, but the 23-year-old Swiatek picked the worst possible time to produce one of her worst displays of the season, spraying 36 unforced errors.
Swiatek was in tears during a TV interview afterwards.
"I just had a hole in my backhand. It happens rarely because it is usually my most solid strike," she told Eurosport Poland.
Swiatek looked uncomfortable in the hot and humid conditions, struggling to find her range with shots often missing the lines by metres as the first set slid away.
After a bathroom break to re-set she seemed to have regained control in the second set as she went 4-0 ahead.
But it proved a false dawn as the errors returned and Zheng took full advantage to claw her way back and surpass China's best Olympic result, Li Na's fourth place in Beijing in 2008.
Swiatek dropped serve at 5-5 and Zheng then kept cool as she served for victory -- banging a first serve on to the line on match point that her opponent thought had landed out.
A quick check from the umpire confirmed Swiatek's fate.
American duo Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek followed up their defeat of Alcaraz and Rafa Nadal the previous evening to book their place in the final as they overcame Czech pairing Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek 6-2 6-2.
-Reuters