World number 12 Belinda Bencic dug deep to overpower the Czech Republic's Marketa Vondrousova 7-5 2-6 6-3 on Saturday and win the Tokyo Games women's singles title, becoming the first Swiss woman to earn an Olympic tennis gold.
The 24-year-old Bencic, who prevailed in two hours and 30 minutes, can now complete a set of gold medals when she and Viktorija Golubic face Czech No. 1 seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova in the doubles final on Sunday.
Neither of Switzerland's greats Roger Federer nor Martina Hingis, both former world number ones, won Olympic singles gold. "I was focused I never lost focus and I never gave up," she said."I did not come here saying the Olympic Games are there just to win a medal. It was a dream for me from the beginning til the end. I don't want this to be over."
Vondrousova, however, was far from finished and went up a gear in the second with a double break to force the match into a decider as Bencic struggled with her opponent's backhand slice.
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