Zheng dismantled Poland’s Swiatek, the clear favourite to win a gold medal after a third consecutive French Open title this year, becoming the first Chinese player to reach the Olympic singles final.

“I’m so happy that I could make history for Chinese tennis. I always wanted to be one of the athletes who can get a medal for China, for our country, and right now I’m one of them,” Australian Open runner-up Zheng told reporters.

“But I know the fight is not over. It’s not the end,” she said. “I’ve made history already but I don’t want to stop here.”

Zheng was the second Chinese player to reach an Olympic singles semi-final after Li Na, who finished in fourth place at Beijing 2008.

In the mixed doubles, Wang Xinyu and Zhang Zhizhen defeated the Netherlands’ Demi Schuurs and Wesley Koolhof in a super tiebreak.

They became the second Chinese pair to reach an Olympic doubles final after Li Ting and Sun Tian-Tian won the women’s doubles gold medal in Athens in 2004.

Wang had only replaced Zheng in the mixed doubles at the last minute.

“It was like (I had) finished my first Olympics (after losing in the women’s singles),” Wang said. “I was checking the tickets, making plans for the next weeks. And then all of a sudden I get a phone call, ‘You want to play? OK, sure’.”