Upstart Puig, confident Kerber meet in Olympic tennis final

People took to the streets across Puerto Rico to celebrate the country’s first Olympic gold medal won by woman tennis player Monica Puig at the Rio Games.

Fernandez, a Puerto Rican who won Olympic gold in doubles in 1992 and 1996 but did so while representing the United States, has dealt with plenty of social-media criticism in recent days as the wounds caused by her decision from a generation ago were reopened, in part from her own Twitter commentary.

“I didn’t really have enough time memorize it all”, Puig said of the anthem.

The 33-year-old produced a trademark surge over the last 100 metres to time 27min 05.17sec over the 25-lap race.

“I did hear everybody saying, ‘Yes, you can!”

Although she is friendly with Hingis, she thought the Swiss could have avoided hitting her. I started believing in myself even more.

Puig, who had already become the first player from Puerto Rico to medal when she defeated Petra Kvitova to reach the Gold medal match on Friday, is also the lowest ranked woman to ever win an Olympic Gold. As the match progressed, it became apparent that Puig’s explosive ball-striking was causing the German massive problems throughout.

Against Kerber, Puig looked like she had arrived.

Kvitova called her medal “one of the best things that happened in my career, definitely”.

She acknowledged that a gold medal was one of her goals here at the Games but said she is nonetheless thrilled with her outcome. “I hope to really keep this momentum in the upcoming tournaments”.

Del Potro, whose world rankings dropped drastically due to absence with a wrist injury, nailed the win on the first match point.

Monica Puig has now earned a spot in Puerto Rico’s history books.

But she’ll no doubt have her hands full. “She had nothing to lose, she was going for it”, she said. “It just raised my game to a whole new level”.

“Today, without doubt, my Puerto Rico is the happiest island in the world”.

“She played her best tennis and one of her best matches in her career, for sure”, Kerber said.

The second-seeded Murray earned a gold in singles and a silver in mixed doubles for Britain at London in 2012.

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Puig is expected to arrive at San Juan International Airport on August 23, when a spectacular welcome ceremony will be held, Puerto Rico Olympic Committee president Sara Rosario Velez told reporters Monday. “But now it’s behind us”.

Puig is the first tennis player from Puerto Rico to win a tennis medal at the Games.

“I can not believe how well she played”, Fernandez said.

“I am guaranteed a medal already but the goal is to win gold and I’ll do all I can to do it”. She now lives in Florida.