Zheng Kunwen defeated world number one Iga Swiatek 6-2, 7-5 in the women's singles semi-final for the gold medal at the Paris Olympics.
It was the 21-year-old's first win against the four-time French Open champion at his seventh attempt and ended Swiec's 25-match winning streak on the Paris clay courts.
I am very happy that I could make this history for China tennis because I always wanted to be one of the athletes who won a medal for China and now I am one of them said seventh-ranked Zheng. Said which is guaranteed. At least a silver medal by reaching the finals.
But I know the fight is not over. It's not the end. The tournament is very long. So I'm really happy but at the same time I'm waiting for more.
Of course, I've already made history but I don't want to stop here.
By reaching the final, Zheng became the first Chinese man or woman to reach the Olympic singles gold medal match, bettering the run of legendary trailblazer Li Na, who finished fourth in the women's event in Beijing in 2008.
China has previously won medals in women's doubles at the Paris Olympics.
In 2004, in Athens, Li Ting and Sun Tiantian captured gold while four years later in Beijing, Yan Zi and Zheng Jie won bronze.
Zheng Kunwen said she always believed she could beat Aga Svetek despite her poor record against the Pole and three hours of grueling straight matches in Paris to reach the semi-finals.
I finally showed that I can beat the world number one at his best Zeng added.
I always knew I could do it, but you have to show it. I'm very proud of myself and very proud of my country.
Zeng will face Croatia's Donna Vec or Slovakia's Anna Karolina Schmidlova in the gold medal match.
Switek, meanwhile, was left with 36 unforced errors in the tie where he also dropped serve six times. He now has to content himself with playing for a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics.
Sorry guys next time he told reporters, declining to discuss his shock defeat.
Switek was hit on the court by the powerful 21-year-old Australian Open finalist who broke the pole three times in the opening set.
Iga Swiatek recovered from a 10-minute break and quickly raced to a 4-0 lead in the second set before Zheng Qinwen stormed back to take both breaks at 4-4.
The Chinese star once again took a 6-5 lead against the error-plagued Switek and claimed victory in the next game.
Before when I wasn't at that stage I let the matches go. I say OK let's fight for the third set. But today no I don't use that mentality. I say I'm just going to fight every single point Zeng explained.
She said she is a different player now than she was when she lost to Aryna Sabalenka in the Australian Open final in January, where she managed to lose just five games in straight sets.
In Australia, my energy was really low. But if you ask me to fight for my country for three more hours today, I can do it.
