With a nail-biting 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 win over Marketa Vondrousova in the women’s singles gold medal match at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday night, Belinda Bencic became the first Swiss woman ever to win a gold medal in tennis at the Olympics.
Bencic also became just the fourth Swiss player overall, male or female, to win a gold medal in tennis at the Olympics. Marc Rosset was the first, winning gold in men’s singles in Barcelona in 1992, and Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka were the second and third, winning the gold in men’s doubles together in Beijing in 2008.
And there’s more.
With Viktorija Golubic, Bencic is also through to the gold medal match in women’s doubles, which will take place on Sunday. Only three players have swept both singles and doubles gold medals since tennis returned to the Olympics in 1988—Venus Williams at Sydney in 2000, Nicolas Massu in Athens in 2004 and Serena Williams in London in 2012.
Bencic and Golubic will play Czech pair Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova.