(SATSports) – Belinda Bencic won 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 against Marteka Vondrousovain the women’s final to clinch gold for herself and her country.at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, becoming the first Swiss woman to take an Olympics tennis gold.
It was a battle of Olympic debutants when the two young women stepped on court to play the biggest match they have played for their countries and it was seen by a nervy start from both players who exchanged early breaks in the first set, trading two breaks each before Bencic broke for the third time to win the set 7-5.
Vondrousova fought back with a brilliant set of her own, absolutely dominating from the baseline and mixing it up with skillful dropshots to win points. It was a rather easy go for the Czech who cruised to a double break and sealed the second 6-2 to force a decider.
The former French Open finalist carried momentum into the final set and she converted her second break point in the opening game to get a foot ahead in the gold medal match.
The world number 12 in Belinda Bencic, however crawled right back into the match with a quick break back. Aggressive baseline tennis partnered with drive volleys got the Swiss back in command of the match, forcing mistakes from her opponent and taking a 3-1 off a break to love. But like the early stages of the first set, Marteka powered her way through her opponent yet again to get the set back on serve.
At 4-3, Bencic opted for three minute tiebreak, which the commentators criticized because her opponent was serving right after the break, citing that it could affect her rhythm, and they were proven right Bencic won four straight points to earn a 5-3 lead, much to the dismay of her 22 year old rival.
It was a bright start for the Czech Republic player, who overpowered Belinda to get two chances of breaking back, which she failed to do. A couple of backhands into the net at big points let her down and Bencic, on her second gold medal point made no mistake, forcing an erratic return to claim the singles gold as she fell down in disbelief and joy, tears of joy flowing because she had just won what a lot of great players couldn’t, including two from her country in Martina Hingis and Roger Federer.
The 24 year old became the first Swiss tennis player to win a singles gold at the Olympics since Marc Rosset won in 1992 and she can even become just the fourth woman to win both singles and doubles at a single Olympics campaign when she plays the doubles final on Sunday.
(Report Written and compiled Takudzwa Alufeyo edited by Mark Simpson)
