Swiatek rediscovers poise to win bronze medal for Poland
The world No 1 is the first Polish player ever to win a medal in tennis
Action Plus / Panoramic
World No 1 Iga Swiatek bounced back from the disappointment of missing out on a place in the final as she beat Anna-Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia 6-2, 6-0 to win the bronze medal in the women’s singles at the Paris Olympics.
In tears after letting a golden opportunity slip through her fingers against Qinwen Zheng of China on Thursday, the Pole was back to her devastating best on clay as she marched to glory at Roland-Garros. She’s the first ever Polish player to win an Olympic medal.
Schmiedlova had beaten both Jasmine Paolini and Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova to reach the semis but after losing out to Donna Vekic, she found Swiatek far too strong.
The stress of the semi-final seemed to be gone and the four-time French Open champion broke for 4-2 in the first set and then ran away with the rest of the match to claim her first Olympic medal.
Zheng and Vekic will meet in the women’s singles final on Saturday.
People in this post
More tennis news
Brazil, 2006, US Open: Everything you always wanted to know about Joao Fonseca (but never had time to find out) – updated during 2024 Next Gen Finals
Brilliant Fonseca dominates Van Assche to reach final of Next Gen Finals
Tien storms back for win over Michelsen to reach final at Next Gen Finals
Sinner wasn’t built in a day: “It all stems from work that was done much further back, from efforts I made much earlier”
“I wasn’t a King or Navratilova” – Evert claims her impact was “making it ok for young girls to be athletes”
