World quantity 12 Belinda Bencic dug deep to overpower the Czech Republic’s Marketa Vondrousova 7-5 2-6 6-3 on Saturday and win the Tokyo Games ladies’s singles title, changing into the primary Swiss lady to earn an Olympic tennis gold.
The 24-year-old Bencic, who prevailed in two hours and half-hour, can now full a set of gold medals when she and Viktorija Golubic face Czech No. 1 seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova within the doubles last on Sunday.
Bencic can also be the primary Swiss to win a singles gold since Marc Rosset claimed the boys’s Olympic title in 1992, and will change into simply the fourth lady in historical past to safe the title in addition to victory within the doubles.
Neither of Switzerland’s greats Roger Federer nor Martina Hingis, each former world quantity ones, received Olympic singles gold.
“I think I accomplished it for them. They did so much in their career,” Bencic stated.
Belinda simply received the GOLD!🥇 She is an Olympic Champion !😭😭😭🇨🇭🇨🇭🇨🇭 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/gxOimdQrjF
— #WorkforceBelinda (@FanOfBencic) July 31, 2021
“I’m unsure I might be ever have the ability to do what they did, however possibly I may assist them to perform this one with giving them this Olympics so it’s each for Martina and for Roger.
“I was focused I never lost focus and I never gave up,” she stated. “I did not come here saying the Olympic Games are there just to win a medal. It was a dream for me from the beginning til the end. I don’t want this to be over.”
Saturday’s last started as a nervy battle with each gamers struggling to carry serve earlier than Bencic lastly edged the Forty second-ranked Czech to take the primary set.
Vondrousova, nonetheless, was removed from completed and went up a gear within the second with a double break to drive the match right into a decider as Bencic struggled together with her opponent’s backhand slice.
🥇 Olympic champion 🎾, @BelindaBencic 🇨🇭 pic.twitter.com/fP6o6kTXMl
— #WorkforceBelinda (@FanOfBencic) July 31, 2021
Bencic took a medical timeout for a toe blister whereas main 4-3 within the last set, however returned to interrupt the Czech and serve out the victory, collapsing to the courtroom in pleasure when Vondrousova despatched a backhand return lengthy on the Swiss’s second match level.
“We played a great match both of us and only one could win. But winning an Olympic medal, it’s all good. I am just so happy. I am not going to be sad,” stated a beaming Vondrousova, who bettered compatriots Jana Novotna and Petra Kvitova who received bronze medals in 1996 and 2016 respectively.
Vondrousova’s loss ends a dream Olympic run for the 22-year-old, who took down house favorite and world quantity two Naomi Osaka within the third spherical earlier than powering into the championship match over Ukraine’s eventual bronze medallist Elina Svitolina.
