Zheng Qinwen can become China’s first Olympic tennis singles gold medallist on Saturday on the same court where childhood inspiration Li Na wrote her name into history 13 years ago.
Zheng takes on Croatia’s Donna Vekic having endured a rollercoaster week in Paris.
The 21-year-old needed back-to-back three-hour epics to make the semi-final where she spectacularly ended the 25-match win streak in Paris of four-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek.
She had saved a match point to defeat Emma Navarro in the third round and came from 1-4 down in the deciding set of her quarter-final against former world number one Angelique Kerber.
Her combative style did not impress Navarro who blasted her “cut-throat” attitude and “lack of respect”.
Zheng, however, has confidently shrugged off the bumps on the road to Saturday’s gold medal clash.
“I’m so happy that I can make this history for Chinese tennis,” said Zheng “I always wanted to be one of the athletes who can get a medal for our country and right now I’m one of them.
“But I know the fight is not over. It’s not the end. The tournament is very long. I’m really happy but at the same time I’m waiting for more. I don’t want to stop here.”
Li became China’s first Grand Slam champion at the French Open in 2011 on the same Roland Garros courts where Zheng has shone at the Olympics.
Li’s record-shattering triumph was watched by a TV audience of 116 million people in China, according to the Roland Garros website.
“She’s the first Chinese woman to win everything in tennis,” said Zheng, who was only eight years old when she watched Li stun the sports world.
“I watched her since I was a little kid so I’m trying to follow in her steps. She inspired me a lot when I was a child.”
Li’s best performance at the Olympics, however, was a fourth-place finish at Beijing in 2008.
China’s only gold medal came in women’s doubles thanks to Li Ting and Sun Tiantian in Athens four years earlier.
Zheng has already experienced the pressures of major finals having finished runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka at the Australian Open in January.
She has a 1-1 head-to-head record against Vekic winning on home ground in Zhuhai last year having lost in straight sets to the Croatian at Courmayeur in Switzerland in 2021.
Vekic, ranked at 21 in the world, arrived in Paris buoyed by making the Wimbledon semi-finals.
At the Olympics, she knocked out second-ranked US Open champion Coco Gauff in a stormy third round clash and saved a match point to defeat Marta Kostyuk in a gripping late-night quarter-final.
The 28-year-old Vekic admitted that the pressure of representing her nation has made for a tense passage to the final.
“I was so nervous,” she said after her quickfire semi-final win over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova where she lost just four games.
“At times I just wanted to disappear from the court. I didn’t want to be out there. When you’re playing for a medal, it’s different than any other event, I was even more nervous than during the semi-final of Wimbledon.”
