OMNISPORT 

An emotional Monica Puig declared "I just achieved one of my biggest dreams" after claiming Puerto Rico's first Olympic gold medal with victory in the women's tennis singles final at Rio 2016.

Puig, the world number 34, shocked second seed Angelique Kerber to triumph 6-4 4-6 6-1 on Saturday.

Puerto Rico had never previously had an Olympic champion and the 22-year-old said: "It's just amazing. I know my country really appreciates this and I wanted to give it to them."

Reflecting on her progress throughout the tournament, which also featured victories over Garbine Muguruza and Petra Kvitova, Puig added: "I just saw an improvement in every single match I played.

"In every match I got better and better. I started getting faster, I started getting more powerful. I started believing in myself even more.

"With every match that passed I continued to learn and continued to grow. I just achieved one of my biggest dreams."

Puig said on Friday she would study the lyrics of the Puerto Rican national anthem, in case she won the final.

Asked if she knew the words, she replied: "I was crying too much. My dad sent me an email this morning with all the lyrics, I didn't really have enough time to memorise it all but I heard some people singing and I knew the words that were coming next."

With a smile, she added: "If I stopped crying, I would have started singing."

Kerber, who said a back problem hampered her somewhat, was full of praise for Puig.

"I think she came here with no pressure and I think she played one of the best weeks of her career. She had nothing to lose, she was going for it," she said.

"I knew actually that she was a great player and at the end she deserved it. She played a really great week and beat a lot of top players."