Roland Garros queen Swiatek beaten in Olympic semis

World No.1 Iga Swiatek has suffered a shock Olympic semi-final loss to China’s Zheng Qinwen, falling 6-2 7-5.

Swiatek has been French Open champion on the Roland Garros clay in four of the past five years and entered the match with a 6-0 edge in their head-to-head matchups.

The 21-year-old Zheng, the runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka at the Australian Open in January, assured China of its first singles medal in Olympic tennis since the sport returned to the Games in 1988.

In Saturday’s gold-medal match, world No.7 Zheng will face 13th-seeded Donna Vekic of Croatia or unseeded Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia, who were scheduled to face each other Thursday night at Court Philippe Chatrier.