Donna Vekić

Donna Vekić (Croatian pronunciation: [ʋěːkitɕ];[1] born 28 June 1996) is a Croatian professional tennis player. She has won two singles titles on the WTA Tour: the 2014 Malaysian Open and the 2017 Nottingham Open. She has also won five singles titles and one doubles title on the ITF Circuit. Her best performance in a Grand Slam singles event was reaching the quarterfinals at the 2019 US Open. On 4 November 2019, she achieved her career-high singles ranking of No. 19.

Donna Vekić
Vekić at the 2018 Citi Open
Country (sports) Croatia
ResidenceMonte Carlo, Monaco
Born (1996-06-28) 28 June 1996
Osijek, Croatia
Height1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Turned proSeptember 2012
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize moneyUS$4,411,202
Official websitedonnavekic.com
Singles
Career record268–199 (57.4%)
Career titles2
Highest rankingNo. 19 (4 November 2019)
Current rankingNo. 28 (14 September 2020)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open3R (2020)
French Open4R (2019)
Wimbledon4R (2018)
US OpenQF (2019)
Doubles
Career record13–27 (32.5%)
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 171 (20 August 2018)
Current rankingNo. 195 (14 September 2020)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open2R (2015, 2018)
French Open2R (2018)
Wimbledon1R (2014, 2016, 2017, 2018)
US Open1R (2013, 2014, 2017)
Mixed doubles
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open1R (2014)
Wimbledon2R (2013)
Team competitions
Fed Cup11–8
Last updated on: 14 September 2020.

Professional career

2012: First WTA Tour final

Born in Osijek, Vekić is a member of the Croatia Fed Cup team. In February 2012, she played three rubbers at the tournament, including helping her country to a 2–0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina.[2]

At the Tashkent Open, Vekić made it to her first final on the WTA Tour. It was her first main-draw appearance at a WTA tournament, and she was the youngest player in six years to make it to the final of a WTA event. She was defeated by Irina-Camelia Begu in straight sets.[3]

2013: Top 100 debut
Vekić at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships

Vekić started her year off by entering the main draw of the Australian Open where she defeated Andrea Hlaváčková in the first round. In the second round, she fell to the tenth seed and former world No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki, in straight sets.[4]

Seeded 16th for qualifying at the Sony Open Tennis, Vekić qualified for the main draw by defeating Marta Sirotkina and Valeria Savinykh. In the first round, she beat fellow qualifier Yulia Putintseva. In the second round, she lost to the 29th seed Elena Vesnina. At the Monterrey Open, she defeated Julia Cohen in the first round. In the second round, she lost to seventh seed Urszula Radwańska. Vekić won the 50K tournament in Istanbul, defeating Elizaveta Kulichkova in the final. Vekic ended the 2013 season ranked No. 86, her first top-100 season.

2014: First WTA title

Vekić began her 2014 season at the Shenzhen Open where she lost in the first round to third seed Klára Zakopalová.[5] At the Australian Open, Vekić was defeated in the first round by qualifier Lucie Hradecká.[6]

In Thailand at the Pattaya Open, she lost in the first round to top seed Sabine Lisicki.[7] At the Brasil Tennis Cup, Vekić was defeated in the first round by third seed and eventual champion, Klára Zakopalová.[8] In March, Vekić was awarded a wildcard for the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. She lost in the second round to 12th seed Dominika Cibulková.[9] At the Sony Open in Miami, Vekić came through qualifying with wins over Alla Kudryavtseva and Johanna Larsson. In the main draw, she upset 28th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round.[10] She was defeated in the third round by eighth seed Petra Kvitová.[11] At the Monterrey Open, Vekić beat fifth seed Garbiñe Muguruza in the first round in two tie-breaking sets,[12] but lost to Karolína Plíšková in the second round in three sets.[13] Seeded seventh at the Malaysian Open, Vekić won her first career WTA title by defeating top seed Dominika Cibulková in the final.[14]

At the Madrid Open, Vekić was defeated in the final round of qualifying by Kristina Mladenovic. In Paris at the French Open, Vekić lost in the first round to Julia Glushko.[15]

Vekić played one grass-court tournament before Wimbledon, at the Aegon Classic. She was defeated in the first round by Belinda Bencic.[16] At the Wimbledon Championships, Vekić stunned 21st seed Roberta Vinci in the first round.[17] She lost in the second round to 2010 Wimbledon finalist Vera Zvonareva.[18]

At the İstanbul Cup, Vekić was defeated in the first round by third seed Klára Koukalová.[19] At the Baku Cup, she lost in the second round to Kristina Mladenovic.[20]

Vekić started her US Open Series at the Rogers Cup where she was defeated in the first round of qualifying by Tamira Paszek.[21] In Ohio at the Western & Southern Open, Vekić lost in the first round of qualifying to Monica Niculescu. At the Connecticut Open, she was defeated in the first round of qualifying by Belinda Bencic. At the US Open, Vekić lost in the first round to Coco Vandeweghe.[22]

Seeded fifth at the Tashkent Open, Vekić was defeated in the second round by Urszula Radwańska.[23] At the Korea Open, she lost in the first round to Maria Kirilenko.[24] After qualifying for the first edition of the Wuhan Open, Vekić was defeated in the first round by 16th seed Andrea Petkovic.[25]

2015: Fourth WTA final

Vekić began her year as world No. 81. After a bad start to the 2015 season, she beat Louisa Chirico at Indian Wells but lost in the second round to Zarina Diyas. After her ranking dropped to No. 177, she entered the ITF event in Istanbul as the top seed but lost in the quarterfinals to the sixth seed, Margarita Gasparyan. She lost in the first round in the WTA Grand Prix in Marrakesh, and in the second round in the Madrid Open.

In the French Open she claimed her first top-40 victory in the season when she beat Caroline Garcia, and also defeated Bojana Jovanovski before bowing out to Ana Ivanovic. After the French Open she continued her bad form from the first half of the season by failing to qualify for Wimbledon or the US Open. In Tashkent, she reached the final with three-set wins over Kiki Bertens, Carina Witthöft and Anna-Lena Friedsam and a two-set victory over Evgeniya Rodina, but lost to Nao Hibino. She ended the season ranked No. 105.

2016: Fifth ITF title

Vekić began the season ranked 103. At the Australian Open, she lost in the first round to qualifier Naomi Osaka. She reached the quarterfinals of the San Antonio Open, with wins over Aliaksandra Sasnovich and Kiki Bertens, before losing to Tsvetana Pironkova. She lost in the first round of ten consecutive WTA tournaments from February to August, including the French Open, where she lost to Madison Keys, and Wimbledon, where she took Venus Williams to a first-set tie-break but lost in straight sets.

At the Cincinnati Open in August, Vekić had victories over Varvara Lepchenko and Mariana Duque-Marino in qualifying, and defeated world No. 25 Ana Ivanovic, in the first round, before losing to tenth seed Johanna Konta in the second round. She failed to progress through qualifying for the US Open. In September, she reached the final of the ITF tournament in Saint Petersburg, with wins over Olga Doroshina, Anastasiya Komardina, Vesna Dolonc and Aryna Sabalenka, before losing the final to Natalia Vikhlyantseva, in straight sets. In Tashkent, she lost in the first round to Kateryna Kozlova. In Tianjin, after her victory over Zhang Kailin, she lost to the second seed, Svetlana Kuznetsova.

In October, at the ITF Sharm El Sheikh, she had victories over Laura Pigossi, Jaqueline Cristian (walkover) and Arantxa Rus, before she beat Maria Sakkari in three sets in the semifinals to reach her second ITF final of the year. In the final, she defeated Sara Sorribes Tormo in three sets, to win the fifth ITF title of her career. In Poitiers, she lost in the first round to Lauren Davis, while in Limoges she reached the third round, where she lost in three sets to world No. 24 and top-seed Caroline Garcia. Vekić ended the season ranked No. 101.

2017: Second WTA title
Vekić at the 2017 Wimbledon

She reached the second round at the Australian Open, where she lost to Caroline Wozniacki. Vekić won her second WTA title at the Nottingham Open in June, defeating Johanna Konta in three sets. Two weeks later, in the second round of the Wimbledon Championships, she lost to Konta. At the US Open, she reached the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since the 2015 French Open, easily losing to Anastasija Sevastova. Vekić broke into the world top 50 for the first time in July, reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 45 on 25 September, and ended the season ranked No. 56.

2018: Continued success

In September, Vekić reached the semifinals in Tokyo by defeating top-10 players Sloane Stephens and Caroline Garcia. She ended the season ranked No. 34, her first year-end top 50 rankings.

2019: First Grand Slam quarterfinal, consistent results
Vekić at the 2019 Nottingham Open

Vekić started the year strong by reaching the semifinals in Brisbane, but was unable to keep this momentum at the Australian Open, being upset in the second round by the Australian wild card and world No. 240, Kimberly Birrell. She rebounded at her next tournament, reaching the biggest final of her career at the St. Petersburg Trophy, a Premier-level event. Along the way, she upset the defending champion, world No. 2 and Australian Open runner-up, Petra Kvitová, in the quarterfinals, her first career win over the Czech. In the final, she was beaten by world No. 8, Kiki Bertens, in two close sets. She then reached another semifinal in Acapulco, losing to eventual champion Wang Yafan, before recording early round exits in both Indian Wells and Miami.

Vekić only played two clay court warm-up tournaments, losing in the quarterfinals to world No. 1, Naomi Osaka in Stuttgart and retiring in her third round match against fellow Croatian Petra Martić in Madrid due to a foot injury. Seeded 23rd at the French Open, Vekić advanced to the fourth round for the first time after upsetting world No. 15, Belinda Bencic, in the third round. She then lost to Johanna Konta, in straight sets. Opening the grass court season in Nottingham, Vekić reached her second final of the year before falling to former world No. 4, Caroline Garcia, despite leading by a serve and a break. After an opening-round loss to French Open champion Ashleigh Barty in Birmingham, Vekić was tabbed as a potential dark horse in the ladies' singles draw at Wimbledon. However, she was upset in three sets in her first round match by eventual quarterfinalist, American Alison Riske.

Rebounding from this disappointment, Vekić opened the summer hardcourt season with a semifinal showing in San Jose before making the third round in Cincinnati, where she fell to Venus Williams. Seeded 23rd at the US Open, Vekić defeated Richèl Hogenkamp, Kaia Kanepi, Yulia Putintseva and 26th seed Julia Görges to advance to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, becoming the first Croatian woman to reach the last eight at the US Open since Ana Konjuh in 2016. There, she was beaten by the 13th seed Bencic in straight sets.

Despite recording just two match wins in her next five tournaments following the US Open, Vekić qualified for the second tier year-end singles tournament, the WTA Elite Trophy, for the first time in her career. Drawn in the Azalea Group with top seed Bertens and Dayana Yastremska, she fell in straight sets in both her matches, ending her season. Nonetheless, Vekić finished the year ranked No. 19 in the world, her first year-end top 20 finish.

2020

Vekić kicked off her 2020 season at the Brisbane International. She lost in the first round to qualifier Yulia Putintseva.[26] Playing at the first edition of the Adelaide International, Vekić reached the quarterfinal where she was defeated by eventual finalist Dayana Yastremska.[27] At the Australian Open, Vekić beat 2008 champion and former world No. 1, Maria Sharapova, in the first round.[28] She lost in the third round to Iga Świątek.[29]

In Russia at the St. Petersburg Trophy, Vekić was the seventh seed and the previous year's finalist. She was defeated in the second round by Ekaterina Alexandrova.[30] Seeded 17th at the Qatar Open, Vekić lost in the first round to Iga Świątek.[31]

Playing style

Vekić is an aggressive baseliner. She possesses a powerful first serve that is capable of producing aces, and has been recorded as high as 111 mph (178 km/h), but is somewhat inaccurate, meaning that she typically has first serve percentages between 50 and 60 percent. She makes up for this with a reliable second serve, so that double faults are uncommon. Her groundstrokes are powerful, allowing her to dictate play from the baseline, and her forehand, which is hit hard, flat, and fast, is her greatest asset. Due to her quick and aggressive style of play, she accumulates significant numbers of both winners and unforced errors. She is also a quick mover, with impressive speed and footwork. Due to her movement and stamina, Vekić is adept at counterpunching until she can create an opportunity to hit a winner; her increased success in recent years has been as a result of her altering her game style away from solely aggressive play, to constructing points more deliberately, and increasing her defensive skills. Vekić's fast and quick style of play is especially suited to fast hard and grass courts, where the vast majority of her success has taken place. Her major areas of weakness are that she is reluctant to come to the net, she is not as proficient on slower courts such as clay courts, and she struggles against aggressive all-court players who play with variety, such as Ashleigh Barty, Iga Świątek, and Anastasija Sevastova.

Career statistics
Main article: Donna Vekić career statistics

Grand Slam performance timeline
Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# A NH
(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent; (NH) not held. SR=strike rate (events won/competed)
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Singles
Tournament 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 SR W–L Win %
Australian Open A 2R 1R 1R 1R 2R 2R 2R 3R 0 / 8 6–8 43%
French Open A 1R 1R 3R 1R 1R 2R 4R 1R 0 / 7 6–8 43%
Wimbledon A 1R 2R Q2 1R 2R 4R 1R NH 0 / 6 5–6 45%
US Open Q3 2R 1R Q2 Q3 3R 1R QF 3R 0 / 6 9–6 60%
Win–Loss 0–0 2–4 1–4 2–2 0–3 4–4 5–4 8–4 4–3 0 / 27 24–28 46%
Career statistics
Titles 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 Career total: 2
Finals 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 2 0 Career total: 8
Year-end ranking[4] 118 86 84 105 101 56 34 19 $4,498,280

Doubles
Tournament2013201420152016201720182019 2020 2021W–L
Australian Open A 1R 2R A A 2R 1R A 2–4
French Open A 1R A A 1R 2R A A 1–3
Wimbledon A 1R A 1R 1R 1R A NH 0–4
US Open 1R 1R A A 1R A A A 0–3
Win–Loss 0–1 0–4 1–1 0–1 0–3 2–3 0–1 0–0 3–14

References
  1. "vèlik". Hrvatski jezični portal (in Serbo-Croatian). Retrieved 8 October 2018. Vékić
  2. "Za kraj još jedna pobjeda". Croatian Tennis Association (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  3. "Vekić's breakthrough week in Tashkent". Women's Tennis Association. 14 September 2012. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
  4. "Wozniacki defeats Vekic to enter 3rd round". News 18. 17 January 2013. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
  5. "Errani wins season-opener in China". www.foxnews.com. 30 December 2013. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  6. "Serena, Li cruise; Venus, Kvitova, Errani out at Aussie Open". www.wzzm13.com. 13 January 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  7. "Lisicki survives opening round scare at PTT Pattaya Open, finals this weekend". www.pattayamail.com. 30 January 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  8. "No. 3 Klara Zakopalova advances". www.espn.com. 25 February 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  9. "Tennis: Li downs Zheng in California clash of Chinese legends". sport-asia.com. 9 March 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  10. "Serena Williams Wins Opening Match At Sony Open". miami.cbslocal.com. 20 March 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  11. "Serena waits out rain for Miami victory". www.bangkokpost.com. 23 March 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  12. "Muguruza se despide de Monterrey". Marca (in Spanish). 1 April 2014. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
  13. "Date-Krumm wins again at Monterrey Open". www.foxnews.com. 3 April 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  14. "Donna Vekic earns first WTA title". ESPN. 20 April 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  15. SINAI, ALLON (28 May 2014). "Glushko books 2nd round berth". www.jpost.com. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  16. "Belinda Bencic advances". www.espn.com. 9 June 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  17. "Simona Halep opens Wimbledon account with ease, as does Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova". www.thenational.ae. 25 June 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  18. "Serena, Sharapva advance to the third round at Wimbledon". www.columbiadailyherald.com. 26 June 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  19. "Koukalova survives scare against Vekic". www.sportsnet.ca. 14 July 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  20. "Voegele upsets Cirstea at Baku Cup". www.espn.in. 24 July 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  21. "Watson through to main draw in Montreal". guernseypress.com. 4 August 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  22. Zinser, Lynn (26 August 2014). "Youngest Player in Tournament Makes Biggest Splash". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  23. "Bojana Jovanovski advances". www.espn.com. 10 September 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  24. "Top-seeded Radwanska beats Hercog at Korea Open". www.si.com. 16 September 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  25. "Venus exits, Azarenka withdraws from Wuhan Open". www.timescolonist.com. 21 September 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  26. "Naomi Osaka taken to three sets in Brisbane International opener". africa.espn.com. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  27. "Yastremska stays perfect vs. Vekic to reach Adelaide semifinals". www.wtatennis.com. 16 January 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  28. Kane, David (21 January 2020). "Vekic vanquishes Sharapova in Melbourne clash". www.wtatennis.com. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  29. "Swiatek soars past Vekic, into fourth round in Melbourne". www.wtatennis.com. 25 January 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  30. Macpherson, Alex (13 February 2020). "Alexandrova continues hot streak with Vekic victory in St. Petersburg". www.wtatennis.com. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  31. Thompson, Peter (24 February 2020). "Qatar Open: Amanda Anisimova knocks out struggling Elina Svitolina as seeds fall". www.sportingnews.com. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
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