Upstart Monica Puig meets confident Angelique Kerber in Olympic tennis final

Monica Puig is trying to accomplish something no one from her country has ever done. Angelique Kerber is seeking to achieve the sort of thing she’s already done this year.

They play each other Saturday for the Olympic gold medal in women’s tennis. Puerto Rico’s Puig, ranked 34th in the world, is the upstart in every way. Kerber, the Australian Open champion, is starting to look very comfortable in the role of favourite.

The 22-year-old Puig will become just the ninth athlete from Puerto Rico to win an Olympic medal in any sport – and if she beats a grand slam champion for the third time in four matches, she will be the island’s first gold medalist.

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Her underdog run to the final comes amid the economic crisis devastating the US territory, which fields its own Olympic team. Puig is deeply aware of what her triumphs mean.

“This Olympics isn’t about me. It’s about Puerto Rico, and I know how bad they want this,” she said. “The island is full of such bad news all the time so every time ... somebody from the island wins a medal, everything stops. I know how happy everybody gets.”

Puig was so happy Friday after her back-and-forth 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 victory over two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova that her celebratory leap probably got enough hang time to earn points in the Olympic trampoline final. She dropped the first three games against the far more seasoned Czech, who’s seeded 11th. Unfazed, Puig rallied to win the set, then regrouped again after taking just one game in the second.