Olympics: Kerber ends career with dramatic third-set tiebreak loss to Zheng in quarter-finals
Zheng will play either world No 1 Iga Swiatek or American Danielle Collins in the semi-finals
Angelique Kerber, Paris Olympics 2024
Image Credit: Imago / Panoramic
Link to the Olympic women’s singles draw
China’s Qinwen Zheng is through to the semi-finals of the women’s singles event at the Paris Olympics after a hard-fought three-set win over former world No 1 Angelique Kerber, of Germany, who was playing the final tournament of her pro career.
The match was a topsy-turvy affair from the start as Kerber broke to lead 2-0 in the first set. Trailing 3-1, Zheng fought back to win four games on the trot to lead 5-3 before the German won the next three games to serve for the set at 6-5. However, she was broken once again and the set was decided in a tiebreaker, which went in Kerber’s favour by 7-4.
Both players broke once each in the early part of the second set before Zheng got a decisive break to go ahead 5-4 and served out the set for a 6-4 win to force a decider.
Zheng fights back from 4-1 down in the final set
Kerber, a three-time Grand Slam champion and an Olympic silver medallist, went up an early break in the final set and led 4-1 but Zheng fought back once again, this time to 4-4. Both players held serve comfortably to take the match into a deciding set tiebreaker.
Zheng was the one to go up early, breaking out for a 4-1 and then 6-3 lead. Kerber refused to go down yet again and pulled out two successive forehand winners to save all three match points to level the tiebreak at 6-6. However, on her fourth match point, Zheng was finally able to convert on an unforced error from the German to close out the 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 win in just over three hours.
This was the second career meeting between the two players, with Kerber winning their first match in three sets in Indian Wells in 2022 (second round).
Zheng, only the second Chinese player after Li Na to make the singles semi-finals at the Olympics in tennis, will face the winner of the quarter-final between world No 1 Iga Swiatek and American Danielle Collins for a spot in the final and a guaranteed medal.
