With Puig tightening up under pressure and Kvitova beginning to raise her level on the big points, the two-time Wimbledon champion showed why she is often regarded as one of the most risky players on tour-her ruthless easy power causing all sorts of troubles for the Puerto Rican, as she would break once more to mount a 4-0 advantage. She was tested by Russia’s Ekatarina Makarova, fighting from a set down to book her spot in the quarter-final, where she demolished Williams’ conqueror Svitolina for the loss of just two games. “This Olympics isn’t about me, it’s about Puerto Rico and I know how bad they want this”.
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“It would be unbelievable to win the gold and it would be the biggest honour in the world”, said world number 34 Puig. This Rio meeting is the first of the year for Kerber and Puig, their last match being in 2015, with the German taking a round of 32 victory over Puig in the 2015 Canadian Masters.
Puig, 22, reached the women’s singles final and is already guaranteed at least a silver – only her country’s ninth medal at a Games.
In Puig’s match against double Wimbledon champion Kvitova, Puig lost her serve at the start of the contest and was behind 3-0. She becomes the first ever Puerto Rican to win a gold medal for any event throughout their Olympic history.
“I think that was just digging deep and trying everything that I could”, she said.
“It’s really exciting I get to come back tomorrow”. Since then though, she has faced Kerber three times at the business end of tournaments, and has never taken a set off her on the hard court battles.
That showed against 21-year-old American Madison Keys in Friday’s second semifinal. Kerber also had to save two break points in the 11th game at 5-5 and she also managed to hold, to put the pressure back on the American.
With her victory over Germany’s Laura Siegemund in the women’s tennis singles quarterfinals Thursday, Puig advanced to face Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic in today’s semifinals.
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Nadal, the 2008 singles champion, goes on to face either Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina or compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut for a place in Sunday’s gold medal match. Kerber has simply dominated pretty much all of her matches and has been able to do so by making very little unforced errors and playing incredible defense. Top-seeded Serena Williams, who won the gold medal in London’s 2012 games, fell Tuesday in the tournament’s third round.
