World No. 1 Iga Swiatek has managed to bounce back just a day after suffering one of the most disappointing losses of her career as the Polish tennis superstar has managed to at least win the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics.
On Thursday, Swiatek picked up a shock defeat 2-6 5-7 defeat to Zheng Qinwen in the Paris Olympics semifinal – which was her first loss on the clay courts of Roland Garros since 2021.
After the match, Swiatek was in tears and evidently heartbroken and devastated. But on Friday, the 23-year-old Pole managed to get back on winning terms after dismantling Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-2 6-1 in the bronze medal match to win her first Olympic medal.
In just 59 minutes of play, Swiatek fired 12 winners – converted 5-of-7 of her break point chances – and allowed Schmiedlova just one break of serve.
How Swiatek destroyed Schmiedlova?
Early in the match, it was actually Schmiedlova who made a better start after breaking Swiatek for an early 2-1 lead. Down by an early break, the current world No. 1 impressively responded as she won the next five games to overturn the deficit and still easily win the first set.
At the start of the second set,…
