RIO DE JANEIRO: Monica Puig won Puerto Rico’s first ever Olympic gold medal on Saturday when she defeated Germany’s Angelique Kerber 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 in the women’s tennis singles final.
The 22-year-old Florida-based Puig defied her ranking of 34 to get the better of world number two and Australian Open champion Kerber.
Puig is the first woman from the Caribbean island to win a medal of any sort. Before her golden breakthrough, Puerto Rico had won just eight Olympic medals, two silver and six bronze. Six of that total had come in boxing.
Victory for Puig came in a dramatic seventh game of the final set when she saved six break points before taking gold on a fourth match point when a Kerber forehand sailed wide.
