Belinda Bencic will take on Marketa Vondrousova for gold in an unexpected but fitting conclusion to the women’s singles event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Saturday.
Ninth seed Bencic and unseeded world No.42 Vondrousova will look to cap what has been a brilliant week for both in their second career meeting.
Their first came four months ago in Miami, with Vondrousova pipping Bencic 6-4 in the third set to reach the last 16.
But there is so much more on the line when they compete this time in Tokyo.
Neither player had exhibited especially good form in the weeks preceding the Games, and with six of the world’s top nine assembled in Tokyo, the biggest storyline was a potential gold medal clash between the world’s top two ranked women, Ash Barty and Naomi Osaka.
It would have been the first meeting between the superstar pair in 2021, yet Barty fell in round one and Vondrousova eliminated Osaka in the third round.
Vondrousova had lost four of her previous five matches ahead of her Olympic campaign and was lucky even to be in the singles field.
Not among the top four Czech players at the time of the entry deadline, she took advantage of a rule that allowed her to use a protected ranking from 2019 – for which she qualified due to a wrist injury at the time – and thus leapfrogged countrywoman Karolina Muchova into the No.4 singles position.
She has made the most of her opportunity, dropping just one set and winning her last eight in a row in dominant fashion to arrive in the final.
It is her first appearance in a title match since reaching the Roland Garros final two years ago, where she was similarly ranked (at No.38) and also unseeded during that surprising run.
“Since I’ve beat Naomi, I was thinking 'OK, I’m playing well, so maybe I can do better and now I’m in the final,'” Vondrousova said after dismissing sixth-ranked Elina Svitolina in just over an hour in the semifinals.
“Even if it’s silver or gold I’m just happy that I’m leaving with the medal.”
Vondrousova has won just one WTA title in her career – a 250-level trophy in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland four years ago – and has since lost her past three, including a heavy defeat to Barty in that Roland Garros decider.
That was, by some margin, the biggest final of her career until her Olympic run this week.
“Without failure there is no success, so you have to go through some hard matches,” Vondrousova said. “Even if you lose especially, if you keep believing in yourself … this is the reward.”
Bencic’s tennis CV is a little more fleshed out than that of her Czech opponent.
The junior prodigy quickly transitioned to the professional tour and made her first Grand Slam quarterfinal seven years ago, before cracking the top 10 in 2016 while still a teenager.
She later peaked at world No.4 in 2020 and owns four career titles, including two at WTA 1000 level – Toronto in 2015 and Dubai in 2019.
Currently ranked 12th, she has played in two other finals this season – Adelaide and Berlin – but like Vondrousova entered the Olympic event with little form to speak of, going 6-6 in her past three months on tour.
This lean patch perhaps explained her shocked, emotional reaction to beating Elena Rybakina in a gruelling semifinal on Thursday.
“I mean my emotions right now are too high,” the 24-year-old said.
“To have the medal, for me it’s the greatest thing ever. To be here as an athlete, for the Olympics, it’s amazing and also to have a medal, it’s something I dreamt of and I didn’t think it will become reality.”
Bencic hopes to join a prestigious line of Swiss tennis stars to have achieved Olympic success.
Marc Rosset won singles gold at Barcelona in 1992 before Roger Federer combined with Stan Wawrinka to take doubles gold at Beijing 2008. Federer then won a silver medal in singles at the London 2012 games, while Martina Hingis and Timea Bacsinszky nabbed silver in the Rio 2016 women’s doubles event.
Bencic has a shot at an remarkable double gold; she and partner Viktorija Golubic advanced to the women’s doubles final, where they will face Vondrousova’s compatriots Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova.
"This is the biggest result I have reached so far – and the biggest result in doubles. To do it both in the same day, it’s for sure the best result,” Bencic said.
“I don’t really want this dream to stop.”