By Martyn Herman
PARIS (Reuters) - Iga Swiatek must wait four more years to try and win an Olympic gold medal after the Polish top seed was shocked by China's Zheng Qinwen in the semi-finals of the tennis tournament, but Novak Djokovic's hopes are intact despite a scare on Thursday.
The Pole was the overwhelming favourite for gold after a third successive French Open title this year confirmed her as the undisputed Queen of Clay, but she was outplayed 6-2 7-5 by sixth seed Zheng on another sultry day at Roland Garros.
Zheng, 21, faces Croatia's Donna Vekic in Saturday's final after she beat Slovakia's Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-4 6-0. Both are their country's first Olympic singles finalists.
Serbia's 37-year-old Djokovic, desperate for a long-overdue Olympic gold medal, reached the semi-finals for a record fourth time, edging out Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3 7-6(3), although he was troubled by his suspect right knee.
As in the women's Paris draw, there will be a first-time Olympic men's singles champion after Tokyo winner Alexander Zverev crashed to a quarter-final defeat against Italy's Lorenzo Musetti who will be standing in Djokovic's way on Friday.
But there will be no farewell Olympic medal for Britain's Andy Murray after his illustrious career, including two Olympic golds, ended in defeat in the doubles quarter-finals with Dan Evans against Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul.
In snapping world number one Swiatek's 25-match winning run at Roland Garros, dating back to 2021, Australian Open runner-up Zheng did not even have to bring her A-game.
"I'm so happy that I could make history for Chinese tennis because I always wanted to be one of the athletes who can get a medal for China, for our country," Zheng said. "Right now I'm one of them, but I know the fight is not over it's not the end."
TEARFUL SWIATEK
With so many big names missing from the Olympic singles and with several seeds having wilted early, Swiatek was odds on to add the Olympic gold to her five Grand Slam titles.
She held a 6-0 career record against Zheng, but the 23-year-old Swiatek picked the worst possible time to produce one of her worst displays of the year, spraying 36 unforced errors.
Swiatek broke down in tears during a TV interview afterwards and will have to console herself with a bronze medal match.
"I just had a hole in my backhand. It happens rarely because it is usually my most solid strike," she told Eurosport Poland.
Swiatek struggled to find her range in the humid conditions as her shots often missed the lines by metres. After a bathroom break to re-set she seemed to have regained control in the second set as she went 4-0 ahead.
But it proved a false dawn as the errors returned and Zheng took full advantage to claw her way back and surpass China's best Olympic singles result, Li Na's fourth place in 2008.
DJOKOVIC CONCERNED
Men's top seed Djokovic was imperious as he won the first set against Tsitsipas. But he went a break down in the second and more worryingly appeared to slip and aggravate the knee that required surgery after the French Open.
He needed treatment at a change of ends and almost went 5-1 down before recovering and surging back to seal victory.
"I'm concerned about the state of the knee but I can't give you exact information," Djokovic, whose best Olympic result was a singles bronze in 2008, told reporters.
"I need to go and examine the knee now with my physio. I'm hopeful to be ready."
Djokovic will need to be moving freely on Friday against Italy's 11th seed Musetti who impressed in a 7-5 7-5 defeat of third seed Zverev who complained of feeling horrible.
Musetti effectively now has two shots at a medal but said his eyes are only on the title despite having lost six of his seven previous matches against Djokovic.
"I'm not thinking about the bronze, that's not the right spirit," the 22-year-old said.
Spain's Carlos Alcaraz remained on course for gold at his maiden Games as he battled past American Tommy Paul into the semi-finals, winning 6-3 7-6(7) after saving a set point.
The second seed will face Felix Auger-Aliassime on Friday after the Canadian beat Norway's Casper Ruud 6-4 6-7(8) 6-3.
United States duo Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek followed up their defeat of Alcaraz and Rafa Nadal on Wednesday to book their place in the final as they overcame Czech pair Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek 6-2 6-2.
Friday's mixed doubles final offers more medal opportunities for China with Wang Xinyu and Zhang Zhizhen up against Machac and Katerina Siniakova.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; additional reporting by Sybille de la Hamaide; Editing by Toby Davis, Christian Radnedge and Ken Ferris)
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