Gold medalist Monica Puig (PUR) of Puerto Rico and silver medalist Angelique Kerber (GER) of Germany react after receiving their medals. The world no. 34 Puig defeats world no. 2 Kerber 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 after a two hour and ten minute semifinal match.
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Puig is the first Puerto Rican athlete to win an Olympic medal while representing the island.
The underdog faced No. 2-ranked Kerber and seized the first set, 6-4.
Against Kerber, Puig looked like she had arrived.
Olympic champion Monica Puig is back in action on Monday at the Western and Southern Open, with Serena Williams looking for a third title. The two players then split the next four games to remain even at 4-4.
On Twitter, she wrote, “Oh what a time…”
That set the foundation for the thrilling decider where Puig raced into a 5-0 lead before having to suffer for her place in history during a marathon seventh game.
“I hope this can be an inspiration to all Latin women that everything can be done in this life”, Puig said.
Kerber had cruised into the final without dropping a set as the second seed aimed to emulate Steffi Graf who was Germany’s last champion at the 1988. Kerber fired 6 aces to 1 against her opponent.
Monica Puig made her country proud on Saturday.
Puig’s win against Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitová advanced her to the finals of women’s singles.
Kerber, 28, levelled the final in the 10th game but needed four set points to get the job done.
Since 1948, the island has won eight medals, six of them in boxing, along with Javier Culson’s bronze medal in 400 meters and boxer Jaime Espinal’s silver medal, both won in London 2012.
After winning the gold medal in women’s singles, Monica caught the attention of Lin-Manuel Miranda.
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Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina beat Swiss duo Martina Hingis and Timea Bacsinszky 6-4 6-4 to win Olympic gold in the women’s doubles on Sunday. Safarova and Strycova won 31 of 51 (73%) first serve points against just 25 of 50 (50%) Hlavackova and Hradecka. “They’re going through some tough times right now and they needed this, and I needed this”. They were able to save five out of seven break point attempts from Hlavackova and Hradecka.
