The Olympics 2020 tennis has already concluded with two of the top young prospects bagging home the gold medals.
Alexander Zverev grabbed the gold for Germany when he defeated ROC’s Karen Khachanov in the men’s final. On the other hand, Belinda Bencic secured her gold for Switzerland after beating Marketa Vondrousova in the women’s final.
Bencic overcame Vondrousova in three sets, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, to become the first female tennis Olympic gold medalist for Switzerland.
With the victory, Belinda Bencic’s stock would surely rise and we wouldn’t be surprised if she’ll go higher than the ninth seed in the WTA rankings.
This year’s Olympics tennis is definitely one for the books. And today at SBOTOP, we recap the Olympics 2020 results in the women’s tennis singles.
Belinda Bencic caps off historic Olympic run
Belinda Bencic is deserving of a hero’s welcome in Switzerland since she has brought huge honor to her country.
The 24-year-old was a major contributor to Switzerland’s tally of 12 medals as she took home their first-ever women’s singles tennis gold while also winning the silver in the women’s doubles.
Marc Rosset was the last Swiss to win Olympic gold in tennis and that happened way back during the 1992 Barcelona Games, so it’s natural that she received a ton of praise and adulation from her supporters upon arriving at the Zurich airport.
Bencic’s path to gold has been anything but a smooth ride despite being a favourite in the Olympics 2020 odds.
After coasting through the first two rounds against Jessica Pegula and Misaki Doi, Belinda Bencic was put to the test when she had a slow start against the 11th-ranked Barbora Krejcikova in the third round but her back-to-back set wins sealed the deal.
Anatasia Pavlyuchenkova and Elena Rybakina also gave the Swiss a hard time in the quarter-finals, but she wasn’t about to be denied.
Against Marketa Vondrousova in the gold medal match, who came in with major confidence especially after beating Naomi Osaka earlier, Belinda Bencic was pushed to the limit once again.
Bencic had to grind her way for the opening set win. But Vondrousova hit back at the second set by repeatedly breaking her Swiss opponent to take a commanding 5-1 lead.
Eventually, Vondrousova took the second set 6-2 as she had 14 winners compared to Bencic’s four.
In the final set, Bencic jumped out with a 3-1 edge but Vondrousova wouldn’t go down just yet.
With Bencic up 4-3 in the third, the Swiss had a right toe issue and she needed medical treatment so that she could return to action.
Vondrousova threatened with another possible comeback when she had the chance to break Bencic to make it 5-4, but the Swiss rallied to get back to deuce before moving on to finally winning the gold.
The image of Bencic crying tears of joy will always be remembered by her fans especially if you look at her journey prior to this event.
The Swiss missed the 2016 Rio Games due to injury and she had to endure a wrist surgery in 2017 and a stress fracture in 2018.
Bencic has put Switzerland back on the tennis map and she’ll definitely go down as one of the best athletes to ever represent the country.
Elina Svitolina makes her country proud with bronze
Belinda Bencic wasn’t the only one who made history for her country as Elina Svitolina did the same for Ukraine.
By winning the bronze, Elina Svitolina became the first-ever tennis player to win a medal for the Eastern European nation.
It took the world number six two hours and 28 minutes to win the bronze medal match against Elena Rybakina.
The Ukranian had to buck a slow start since she was beaten 1-6 by the Kazakh star and she battled back to force a deciding third set.
In the penultimate set, Elena Rybakina pounced to a 4-1 lead but Elina Svitolina had one more run in her.
Despite trailing, Svitolina kept the pressure on Rybakina and the latter folded to give the 2019 WTA finals champion an opportunity to complete one of the biggest comebacks of her tennis career.
What’s next?
After the Olympics 2020 tennis, the top players are set to compete in the 2021 National Bank Open which will be held in Canada from August 7 to 15.
Hometown favourite Bianca Andreescu is set to defend her crown after the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
She will be joined by the likes of Asheigh Barty, Naomi Osaka, Aryna Sabalenka, Sofia Kenin, Petra Kvitova, Iga Swiatek, and Olympic medalists Elina Svitolina and Belinda Bencic.
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