Croatian tennis player Donna Vekic has reached the final of the Olympic tournament in Paris, securing herself at least a silver medal. She convincingly defeated Slovakia's Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-4, 6-0 in the semi-finals in a match that lasted just one hour and five minutes.

Despite having played a gruelling three-hour match the previous evening, in which she defeated Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk after a dramatic showdown in the quarter-finals, Vekic was fully prepared and focused less than 24 hours later. She gave her opponent Schmiedlová no chance and won 6-4, 6-0.

Vekic was particularly impressive in the second set, in which she did not lose a single game.

With this performance, she became only the second female tennis player in history to win a set 6-0 in the semi-finals of the Olympic Games. Before her, only the legendary Steffi Graf achieved this feat, defeating the American Zina Garrison 6-2, 6-0 in the semi-finals of the 1988 Olympic Games.

On Saturday, Vekic will face Qinwen Zheng from China in the final. Zheng had previously surprised the world number one and four-time Roland Garros winner, Poland’s Iga Swiatek, with a 6-2, 7-5 victory in the first semi-final on Thursday.