RIO DE JANEIRO _ Olympic gold-medal history was crafted for Puerto Rico by a 22-year-old tennis player, who was born in San Juan and moved to Miami as an infant.
Monica Puig, who had never been past the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament, won the first-ever gold medal for Puerto Rico, defeating Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 in the women's singles final. Puerto Rico, a territory of the U.S., has fielded teams in the Summer Olympics since 1948, and this was the first medal, of any variety, for a woman representing Puerto Rico.
There was joy and disbelief for Puig.
She dissolved in tears with her shoulders shaking as she knelt on the court, taking in the moment after a tense two-hour, nine-minute match.
Puig took out the No. 2-ranked Kerber with a barrage of hard-hitting groundstrokes and displayed a deft touch when required. She won it on her fourth match point when Kerber, who won the Australian Open in January, pushed a groundstroke just wide.
It was a nervy final game for both players. Kerber squandered six break points and Puig had three match points in it and watched one vanish when Kerber hit a net-cord winner.
