Swiss Belinda Bencic defeated Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic 7-5 2-6 6-3 in the women’s singles final at the Tokyo 2020 Games to become the first Swiss woman to win an Olympic tennis gold medal.
The moment @BelindaBencic became the third gold medalist in Switzerland tennis history. ???????? pic.twitter.com/ytnt3eBSYv
— . (@Ashish__TV) July 31, 2021
The ninth-seeded Bencic opened the match with a 2-0 lead and even though Vondrousova broke twice to go 3-2 up, the Swiss broke back right away and eventually took the first set in an hour. The world No.42 Vondrousova comfortably won the second set and earned a break at the start of the decider. Bencic responded with three games in a row to go 3-1 up in the third set, but Vondrousova stayed competitive and leveled at 3-3. Bencic then won the next three games, including a love break, for the biggest triumph in her career.
Earlier on Saturday, Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina won bronze with a 1-6 7-6(5) 6-4 victory over Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina.
The 24-year-old Bencic is guaranteed to win another medal in Tokyo. On Sunday she partners Viktorija Golubic in the women’s doubles gold medal match against the top-seeded Czech Republic team of Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova.
