While you were sleeping: 5 things to know after drama for Zhang and Fan at Paris Olympics

During normal waking hours, which aren’t exactly conducive to following an Olympics several time zones away, tennis star Zheng Qinwen made history by reaching the final of the women’s singles, and there were gold medals in shooting and race walking.

If you were Chinese, then much of it was spent defending Pan Zhanle from attacks on several fronts, or watching the badminton start to reach the exciting stage of proceedings.

I think interesting might be the best way to describe day six at the Paris Olympics.

But there was plenty of action after lights went out, so here’s a look at the best of what happened while you were sleeping.

Fan Zhendong of China is forced to scrap to stay in the table tennis men’s singles. Photo: Xinhua

A close-run thing

For a while China faced the possibility of not winning any medal in the singles of the men’s table tennis, with No 2 seed and great young hope Fan Zhendong staring down the barrel against Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto

But in a seven-game thriller that would have graced any final, Fan held his ground to claim a spot in the semi-finals.

He will face France’s home favourite Felix Lebrun, who prevailed in a cracker against Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yun-ju earlier in the day, backed by a packed stadium that included French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.

Harimoto kept the Chinese fans on edge from the start by claiming the first game against Fan 11-2 and followed up with a hard-fought 11-9 win in the second. But the resilient Fan fought back, and in the seventh game, at 7-7, it seemed like it could be anyone’s match.

“When I was behind, I felt that I didn’t panic or waver, and later on, I think I managed to make some adjustments and change the rhythm,” said Fan, who will march on to defend China’s gold in the event after the surprise elimination of his teammate Wang Chuqin.

Normal service resumed

US gymnastics star Simone Biles soared to her second gold of the Paris Games and sixth of her Olympic career in the women’s all-around final.

The 27-year-old became the oldest female to win the event since 1952 as she repeated the gold she picked up in 2016 and missed in Tokyo three years ago after suffering a very public case of the “twisties”.

Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee celebrate their medals in the women’s all-around final. Photo: Reuters

The six golds mean Biles is closing in on Larisa Latynina’s record of nine for the Soviet Union between 1956 and 1964.

She scored 59.131, with Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade taking silver for the second straight Games on 57.932, while Tokyo champion Sunisa Lee of the US sealed bronze.

‘Butterfly queen’ loses crown

China’s Zhang Yufei had no answer to the power of Canadian Summer McIntosh in the 200m butterfly, taking bronze in the event she won in Tokyo three years ago.

The 17-year-old McIntosh touched the wall in an Olympic record time of two minutes 3.03 seconds at La Defense Arena, 0.81 seconds ahead of American silver medallist Regan Smith.

It was McIntosh’s third medal of the Paris Games, having taken a dominant 400 metres individual medley gold on day three of the meet and silver in the 400m freestyle on day one.

The butterfly win also made McIntosh the first Canadian swimmer to claim multiple Olympic golds.

Zhang cried afterwards as she revealed she had battled illness just to start the race.

Djokovic hobbles on, just

Novak Djokovic overcame a worrying knee injury scare and a huge second-set deficit to reach his fourth Olympic Games semi-final on Thursday.

The Serbian top seed defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-6, but only after aggravating the right knee injury that required surgery in June.

Djokovic needed on-court treatment after slipping on the baseline of Court Philippe Chatrier.

He fell 0-4 and then 2-5 down in the second set but battled back to save three set points in the ninth game.

A tearful Andy Murray leaves Roland-Garros after his loss alongside Dan Evans. Photo: dpa

The 24-time grand slam title winner, still looking for a first Olympic gold medal, then raced through the tiebreak to record his 12th win in 14 meetings against the Greek.

He will face Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti for a place in the gold medal match.

Career-ending defeat

Time and tide wait for no man, and it seems to have finally caught up with Andy Murray. Britain’s greatest player since, well, forever, has lost his last point.

The Wimbledon champion, Olympic gold medal-winner, and all-round good egg slipped into retirement on Thursday when he and Dan Evans lost in the men’s doubles quarter-finals.

American pair Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul delivered the coup de grâce with a 6-2, 6-4 victory on a packed Court Suzanne Lenglen.

The 37-year-old Murray had already announced that the Olympics would be his last event.

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