China’s Zheng Qinwen beat Croatia's Donna Vekic in the women's singles Olympic gold medal match in tennis at Roland Garros 6-2, 6-3, winning the country's first singles Olympic gold medal in Paris on Saturday.

Zheng Qinwen of China competes during the women's singles gold medal match of tennis against Donna Vekic of Croatia at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Photo: China News Service / Fu Tian)

It marked China’s first medal of any color in the singles and the country’s second in tennis after Li Ting and Sun Tiantian won gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

"Nothing can describe my feeling right now, it's unreal. I've always been hoping to get a medal for China. Finally I made it," Zheng said during the on-court interview.

"I did everything I could. I think my country will be proud of me, I feel proud of myself. The success is for all my team members, my families and whoever supported me, not just for me,” she added.

“It’s a bit of a surprise but she was better today than me. All credit to her, she was playing really well and she deserved to win,” said Croatia’s Vekić.

Zheng is an undergraduate of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, Hubei Province.

She has won the women's singles championship at the 19th Asian Games, the women's singles runner-up at the 2024 Australian Open, and the women's singles championship at the WTA 500 Zhengzhou Open, among other achievements.

China's Xinyu Wang and Zhizhen Zheng earned a silver medal in the mixed doubles final on Friday.