By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday March 5, 2023
Donna Vekic saved a barrage of break points and edged Caroline Garcia for her fourth career title.
Photo Source: Getty
Donna Vekic continues to raise eyebrows in 2023. The 26-year-old Croatian has had her share of injury setbacks in recent years, but with a clean bill of health – and a clean, mean brand of tennis – she is pushing up the rankings at an impressive rate.
Vekic started the season at No.69 in the world but took another step in the direction of the Top-20 on Sunday in Monterrey, Mexico as she outdueled fifth-ranked Caroline Garcia of France, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, for the Abierto GNP Seguros title. Vekic claims her fourth WTA title and her first since 2021, thanks to a gritty effort overall, and especially from the service stripe. She saved 16 of 18 break points, including all eight she faced in the final set, to win in two hours and 30 minutes.
The Croatian rises to No.23 in Monday rankings, and improves to 14-2 on the young season. In January Vekic started off the season with a bang by reaching the Australian Open quarterfinals, her first trip to the last eight at the majors since 2019.
“It was not easy, but I’m really happy to win,” Vekic said, per WTATennis.com. "It’s been a great start of the year for me. If the title didn’t come now, I believe that it would have come soon. So I’ve been playing good tennis, and I just need to keep working hard and hopefully stay healthy, and I’m sure I will keep having good results."
Vekic had to dig deep to get past Garcia on Sunday. After losing a tight opening set, the lethal Garcia rallied from a break down to force a decider.
The 29-year-old Frenchwoman, bidding for her 12th WTA title, had four chances to break Vekic in the opening game of the final set, then another four at 3-3, but Vekic held firm and eventually broke at love when Garcia was serving to force a tiebreak at 5-6.
Vekic cracked 33 winners to 26 unforced errors in the contest, while. Garcia smashed 47 winners, including 15 aces, against 34 unforced errors.
Vekic earned her first Top-5 win of the season – her only losses have come against Top-10 players (No.7 Sakkari at Linz and No.5 Sabalenka at the Australian Open).