Paris Olympics: Angelique Kerber’s tennis career ends in defeat; Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz Progresso

German tennis player Angelique Kerber’s playing career ended with a defeat to China’s Qinwen Zheng in the women’s singles quarterfinals of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games at the Court Philippe-Chartier. In the men’s section, Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, who recently fought in the Wimbledon final, continued their quest by reaching the quarterfinals on Wednesday. Angelique, a three-time Grand Slam champion and silver medalist in this event at the 2016 Rio Olympics, had announced before the start of the quadrennial Paris 2024 event that this tournament would mark the end of her professional tennis career.

In the quarterfinal clash that lasted nearly three hours, Angelique took the lead against Zheng by winning the first set 7-6 (4) in a tiebreak. But Zheng fought back and won the last two sets, finishing with a tiebreak in the third set to win 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (6).

Zheng becomes only the second Chinese tennis player, after Li Na, to reach the women’s singles semifinals at the Olympics. She will face the winner of the quarter-final between world number one, Poland’s Iga Swiatek, and North American Danielle Collins, for a place in the final and guarantee a medal.

Meanwhile, 24-times Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic’s quest for a first Olympic gold medal continued after the Serb defeated Germany’s Dominik Koepfer 7-5 6-3 at Roland Garros in the morning. The top seed will now face Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas in a mouth-watering quarter-final clash.

Spanish French Open champion Carlos Alcaraz, who will later be in doubles alongside Rafael Nadal, also reached the quarter-finals after beating Roman Safiullin 6-4 6-2. He will face American Tommy Paul in the quarterfinals.

Djokovic, the second player in the world in the ATP rankings, is making his fifth appearance at the Olympics. Djokovic’s best result came in Beijing in 2008, when he won the bronze medal. The Serbian, who is eager to add Olympic gold to his trophy cabinet, revealed he is loving his time in Paris.

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