Rio de Janeiro, the second largest Brazilian city hosted the 31st Summer Olympic Games and this Olympiad marked the fifteenth overall edition to include tennis in its roster of events. A total of 199 players represented their nations in various disciplines of the sport. The Olympic Tennis Centre in Barra Olympic Park was the heart of tennis action throughout the tournament which kicked off on 6th August and concluded on the 14th last weekend.

Puerto Rico won its first ever gold medal at the Olympics through 22-year-old Monica Puig, the storyline of the tournament who put forth a feisty performance to beat second seed and heavy favourite Angelique Kerber of Germany for her first Olympic medal. With the result, Kerber settles for silver, also her maiden Olympic medal.

Seventh seed Madison Keys of the United States and 11th seed Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic faced off in the bronze medal match. Two-time Wimbledon winner Kvitova came out on top in the hard-hitting encounter to break through to her first ever Olympic medal.

Last week’s medallists

Singles

An ecstatic Puig reacts after converting gold medal point over Angelique Kerber in the final. Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images.
An ecstatic Puig reacts after converting gold medal point over Angelique Kerber in the final to secure the gold medal for her country. Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images.

Puerto Rico’s number one, the big-hitting Monica Puig first gained notice in 2013 when she made her Grand Slam main draw debut at the French Open. In the opening round she scored an upset win over former world number three Nadia Petrova and then went on to make the third round where she lost to Carla Suárez Navarro.

Things did not stop there as she went on a roll once again in her second Grand Slam main draw the following month at Wimbledon where she reached the round of 16, scoring her first top five win over Sara Errani in the opening round. Puig faced Sloane Stephens for a place in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal but fell short to American in three sets. The Puerto Rican finished 2013 at number 55, up 72 spots from 127th at the start of the year.

In 2014, Puig finally broke through to win her first WTA title at the Internationaux de Strasbourg, she did not a drop a set all week en route to the trophy. However, she was unable to match her results from the previous year as she collected back-to-back wins in just two other tournaments besides Strasbourg. She made the second round of the Australian Open and the French Open but fell at the first hurdle at the other two Grand Slams. Despite having come close to cracking the top 40 after winning Strasbourg, her ranking plummeted to 60th by the end of the year.

2015 was no different for the Puerto Rican, her best showings being just the Pattaya City semifinals and the last eight in Acapulco and Bogota. She won just one match at the Grand Slams, at the Australian Open. She also endured a dry spell in the middle of the year, winning just one match in a stretch of two months between Madrid and Wimbledon. Puig ended 2015 at number 92.

Kicking off 2016 down under, Puig recorded her best result since winning Strasbourg when she came through qualifying to make the final in Sydney but was outplayed by Svetlana Kuznetsova. She then went on to make the third rounds of the Australian Open and the French Open, winning back-to-back matches in consecutive Grand Slam events for the first time since 2013. Through the first six months of 2016, her ranking had risen from 92nd to 49th. Puig then enjoyed her best grass court season to date when she came through qualifying to reach the last four in Eastbourne. She also made the last four in Nottingham.

​ Silver medallist Angelique Kerber (left), gold medallist Puig and bronze medallist Petra Kvitova (right) on the podium after receiving their medals. Photo credit: Luis Acosta/Getty Images.Silver medallist Angelique Kerber (left), gold medallist Puig and bronze medallist Petra Kvitova (right) on the podium after receiving their medals. Photo credit: Luis Acosta/Getty Images.Click and drag to move ​
​ Silver medallist Angelique Kerber (left), gold medallist Puig and bronze medallist Petra Kvitova (right) on the podium after receiving their medals. Photo credit: Luis Acosta/Getty Images.

The week before the Olympics, Puig advanced to her fourth semifinal of the year in Florianopolis where she was beaten by eventual champion Irina-Camelia Begu. Entering the Olympics as the sole Puerto Rican tennis player, the San Juan native beat Slovene Polona Hercog in the first round before recording wins over 14th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and third seed Garbiñe Muguruza to make the last eight where she swept aside the in-form German Laura Siegemund.

Puig lost her first set of the tournament in the semifinals against 11th seed Petra Kvitova but overcame the Czech to make the gold medal match. Going up against second seed Angelique Kerber, the clear favourite for the gold medal, the Puerto Rican played the match of her life to sail through to Puerto Rico’s maiden Olympic gold medal with a scoreline of 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.

The Puerto Rican dedicated her win to her island nation of 3.5 million, stating "I think I united a nation. And I just love where I come from. I just want to tell them that this is for them. They are going through some tough times and they needed this and I needed this. I love where I come from."

There was no looking down for Kerber, who has been enjoying her best season to date as she becomes the first German woman to win an Olympic medal in tennis since legend Steffi Graf at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. There was history for Czech Republic as well as Kvitova prevailed over seventh seed Madison Keys to become the first Czech player to win an Olympic medal in the singles discipline since Jana Novotna at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

The medallists enjoy a good laugh after the medal presentation ceremony. Photo credit: Javier Soriano/Getty Images.
The medallists enjoy a good laugh after the medal presentation ceremony. Photo credit: Javier Soriano/Getty Images.

Throughout the week on the Brazilian coast, there were several players who posted deep runs and also several upsets. The number 15 seed Elina Svitolina earned her first win in five tries over top seed and defending gold medallist Serena Williams, sweeping aside the American in straight sets in the round of 16. Germany’s Siegemund, who was unseeded and making her Olympic debut, also fared well by recording a quarterfinal appearance.

Another unseeded player who had a deep run was Russian young gun Daria Kasatkina, who like Siegemund was in her first Olympic appearance. The Russian made the last eight as well. British number one Johanna Konta continues to break new ground in 2016, the 10th seed reaching the quarterfinals in her maiden Olympic appearance.

The opening hurdle of the competition saw three top eight seeds shown the exit. Fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska has now lost her last two matches at the Olympics after a straight-set defeat in the hands of China’s Zheng Saisai. Fifth seed Venus Williams also crashed out in the first round, falling to Belgian Kirsten Flipkens in three sets. Meanwhile, the sixth-seeded Roberta Vinci was taken down by Slovak Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in straight sets. Come the round of 16, only three all-seeded match-ups materialised. Keys moved past ninth seed Suárez Navarro, Konta overcame eighth seed Kuznetsova in a gruelling three-setter while Kerber took down 13th seed Samantha Stosur.

Only five seeds secured quarterfinal berths. There, Kvitova took down Svitolina, Keys dismantled Kasatkina and Kerber sailed past Konta, and Puig sent Siegemund crashing out, each winner not losing more than four games in their respective matches.

Doubles

From left to right: Silver medallists Timea Bacsinszky and Martina Hingis, gold medallists Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina and bronze medallists Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova on the podium after winning medals in women's doubles. Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images.
From left to right: Silver medallists Timea Bacsinszky and Martina Hingis, gold medallists Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina and bronze medallists Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova on the podium after winning medals in women's doubles. Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images.

In doubles action, the Russian duo of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina beat Martina Hingis and Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland 6-4, 6-4 to win gold. The chase for bronze saw the only Czech teams in the draw, Andrea Hlavackova/Lucie Hradecka and Lucie Safarova/Barbora Strycova face off. Safarova and Strycova, who had upset the heavy-favourite Williams sisters in the opening round rolled past their compatriots 7-5, 6-1 to take home the bronze.

Mixed doubles

From left to right: Silver medallists Timea Bacsinszky and Martina Hingis, gold medallists Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina and bronze medallists Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova on the podium after winning medals in mixed doubles. Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images.
From left to right: Silver medallists Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram, gold medallists Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock and bronze medallists Lucie Hradecka and Radek Stepanek on the podium after winning medals in mixed doubles. Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images.

The United States was represented by two teams in the championship round of mixed doubles. There, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock claimed the gold, prevailing over Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram in three sets. Czech Republic scored its third medal in tennis this year, and bronze again, when Hradecka and Radek Stepanek defeated the Indian duo of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna 6-1, 7-5. By virtue of Hradecka collecting the bronze, the Czech women completed the sweep of bronze medals in all three disciplines.

This week’s action

Tennis action this week returns to North America as the US Open Series continues proceedings with the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, Ohio. Kerber, who is now the top seed after the withdrawal of Serena Williams spearheads the draw where she is joined by another five top 10 peers. The German is in contention for the world number one ranking and could snatch it from Williams should she leave Cincinnati with the trophy, thus ending the American's streak of 153 consecutive weeks atop the rankings.                                                                                           

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About the author
Silas Low
21, Malaysian. A fan of WTA Tennis since 23rd January 2009.