Monica Puig came to the Olympic tennis event under the radar, but Puerto Rico’s top tennis talent blistered through a tough draw to take home her country’s first gold medal.

“I just saw an improvement every single match I played,” she said after the match. “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 just continued to learn and continued to grow.

“I just achieved one of my biggest dreams.”

That dream nearly didn’t come true, as Olympic qualification came down to the wire for Puig, but once in the draw, she knocked out the game’s biggest names, including Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, reigning French Open champion Garbiñe Muguruza, Petra Kvitova, and future No.1 Angelique Kerber in a thrilling three-set final.

“There’s no denying that tonight was nerve‑wracking for me. I just tried to keep as calm as possible. Inside, I was about, like, to explode at any minute. Both the semifinal and final were incredibly hard‑fought. I’m just so pleased with how I was able to keep my composure and come through.”

Here more from Puig in the WTA Insider Podcast:

The first Puerto Rican woman to medal – and the first Gold medalist from Puerto Rico – earned an astounding 350,000 votes to help earn her the mantle of August’s WTA Player of the Month!

Final Results for August’s WTA Player Of The Month

1. Monica Puig (97%)
2. Angelique Kerber (2%)
3. Karolina Pliskova (1%)

2016 WTA Player of the Month Winners

January: Angelique Kerber
February: Carla Suárez Navarro
March: Victoria Azarenka
April: Angelique Kerber
May: Garbiñe Muguruza
June: Serena Williams
July: Simona Halep

How it works:

Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com