Monica Puig of Puerto Rico bested Angelique Kerber of Germany in three sets to win the women’s singles gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Puig needed all three sets, but the unseeded player still looked dominant in the third and final set of her victory, winning 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
Monica Puig wins 2016 Olympic tennis gold medal, Puerto Rico’s 1st ever
Unseeded Puerto Rican Monica Puig took down the No. 2 seed, Angelique Kerber, in the gold medal match of the women’s singles bracket on Saturday.
Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
Puig has given Puerto Rico its first ever Olympic gold medal.
The first set saw Kerber successful on 70 percent of her first serves and also managed 88 percent on her second serve. But ultimately she had just eight total winners in the set, while Puig managed a massive 18 total winners. Puig was simply the more consistent player in the opening set, winning it, 6-4.
Kerber got an early break over Puig in the second set, but Puig broke back not long after to get the set back on serve. That was the only break opportunity Puig had in the set, however, as Kerber broke her a second time (but also squandered multiple break point opportunities, converting on just two of five).
At the end though, Kerber bested Puig in the second set, 6-4, to tie it at a set apiece.
The third set was all Puig, though. The Puerto Rican tapped into a reserve nobody knew she had and she completely dominated Kerber from start to finish. She took a massive 5-0 lead in the first set, with Kerber serving to try and keep herself in contention for the gold medal.
At that stage, Puig had won both of her break point attempts and had hit 11 winners to Kerber’s four in the third set. Kerber fought off match point multiple times, but the match and the gold medal eventually went to Puig.
Earlier on Saturday, Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic bested Madison Keys of the United States in the bronze medal match. Serena Williams, the top seed, was eliminated in the third round of the competition.
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