Donna Vekić (born 28 June 1996) is a Croatian tennis player.
Vekić has won one singles title on the WTA tour as well as four singles and one doubles title on the ITF circuit in her career. On 15 July 2013, she reached her best singles ranking of world number 62. On 2 February 2015, she peaked at world number 310 in the doubles rankings.
Osijek-born Vekić is a member of the Croatia Fed Cup team and in February 2012 played three rubbers at the tournament, including helping her country to a 2–0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina.[1]
Professional career
2012: First WTA final
At the 2012 Tashkent Open, Vekić made it to her first WTA Tour final, it was her first main draw appearance at a WTA tournament. She was the youngest player in six years to make it to a WTA final. She was, however, defeated by Irina-Camelia Begu in straight sets.[2]
2013: Second WTA final
Vekić started her year off by entering the main draw of the 2013 Australian Open. She defeated Andrea Hlaváčková in the first round before falling to the tenth seed and former world number 1, Caroline Wozniacki, in the second round. At the 2013 French Open, Vekić lost her first match to Mallory Burdette. Following Roland Garros, Vekić competed at the Aegon Classic. There, Vekić made it all the way to the final, defeating number 8 seed Urszula Radwańska in the second round, number 3 seed Sorana Cîrstea in the quarterfinals and 2009 Aegon Classic champion Magdaléna Rybáriková in the semifinals. She fell to former world number 5 Daniela Hantuchová in the final in straight sets.[3]
At the 2013 Wimbledon Championships, Vekić lost in the first round to Petra Cetkovská in straight sets. At the US Open, she defeated Mariana Duque in the first round before falling to Simona Halep in the second.
2014: First WTA title
The beginning of Vekić's 2014 season started as 2013 had ended, with first round losses in Shenzhen, the Australian Open (in women's singles, doubles and mixed doubles), and at the Pattaya Open. At this point, her last tour win was at the 2013 Tashkent Open.
Vekić was awarded a wild card at the 2014 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, defeating qualifier Olivia Rogowska in the first round before losing in round two to 12th seed Dominika Cibulková. At the Sony Open in Miami, she came through qualifying with wins over Alla Kudryavtseva and Johanna Larsson to face fellow qualifier Kimiko Date-Krumm in round one of the main draw, a match in which the young Croat won in straight sets. In the second round, Vekić faced Svetlana Kuznetsova, beating the Russian 28th seed in straight sets too, before bowing out to Petra Kvitová in round three. At the Monterrey Open in Mexico, Vekić beat Garbiñe Muguruza in the first round in two tie-breaking sets,[4] but lost to Karolína Plíšková in the second round in three sets.
At the 2014 Malaysian Open, Vekić won her first career WTA title and had one of the biggest wins of her career when she defeated the world number 10, Dominika Cibulková in a third set tie-breaker in the final.[5] On her way to the final, she won three of her four matches after losing the first set (against Chan Yung-jan, Kristýna Plíšková and Zhang Shuai).
WTA finals
Singles (1–3)
| Legend |
|---|
| Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) |
| WTA Tour Championships (0–0) |
| Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (0–0) |
| Premier (0–0) |
| International (1–3) |
|
| Finals by surface |
|---|
| Hard (1–2) |
| Clay (0–0) |
| Grass (0–1) |
| Carpet (0–0) |
|
| Outcome |
No. |
Date |
Tournament |
Surface |
Opponent |
Score |
|---|
| Runner-up |
1. |
15 September 2012 |
Tashkent Open, Tashkent, Uzbekistan |
Hard |
 Irina-Camelia Begu |
4–6, 4–6 |
| Runner-up |
2. |
16 June 2013 |
Aegon Classic, Birmingham, United Kingdom |
Grass |
 Daniela Hantuchová |
6–7(5–7), 4–6 |
| Winner |
1. |
20 April 2014 |
Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
Hard |
Dominika Cibulková |
5–7, 7–5, 7–6(7–4) |
| Runner-up |
3. |
28 September 2015 |
Tashkent Open, Tashkent, Uzbekistan |
Hard |
 Nao Hibino |
2–6, 2–6 |
ITF finals (5–7)
Singles (4–7)
| Legend |
| $100,000 tournaments |
| $75,000 tournaments |
| $50,000 tournaments |
| $25,000 tournaments |
| $15,000 tournaments |
| $10,000 tournaments |
|
| Finals by surface |
| Hard (4–6) |
| Clay (0–1) |
| Grass (0–0) |
| Carpet (0–0) |
|
| Outcome |
No. |
Date |
Tournament |
Surface |
Opponent |
Score |
| Runner-up |
1. |
18 April 2011 |
Hvar, Croatia |
Clay |
 Ema Burgić |
5–7, 6–7(2–7) |
| Winner |
1. |
25 July 2011 |
Chiswick, United Kingdom |
Hard |
 Bojana Bobusic |
3–6, 6–3, 6–3 |
| Runner-up |
2. |
15 August 2011 |
Westende, Belgium |
Hard |
 Lu Jiajing |
4–6, 6–7(4–7) |
| Runner-up |
3. |
17 October 2011 |
Lagos, Nigeria |
Hard |
 Elina Svitolina |
4–6, 3–6 |
| Runner-up |
4. |
24 October 2011 |
Lagos, Nigeria |
Hard |
.svg.png) Tamaryn Hendler |
4–6, 5–7 |
| Winner |
2. |
19 March 2012 |
Bangalore, India |
Hard |
 Andrea Koch Benvenuto |
6–2, 6–4 |
| Runner-up |
5. |
16 April 2012 |
Namangan, Uzbekistan |
Hard |
 Olga Puchkova |
6–3, 3–6, 2–6 |
| Winner |
3. |
14 May 2012 |
Fergana, Uzbekistan |
Hard |
Nadiia Kichenok |
6–2, 6–2 |
| Runner-up |
6. |
16 July 2012 |
Campos do Jordão, Brazil |
Hard |
 María Irigoyen |
5–7, 0–6 |
| Runner-up |
7. |
23 July 2012 |
Wrexham, United Kingdom |
Hard |
 Carina Witthöft |
2–6, 7–6(7–4), 2–6 |
| Winner |
4. |
22 April 2013 |
Istanbul, Turkey |
Hard |
Elizaveta Kulichkova |
6–4, 7–6(7–4) |
Doubles (1–0)
| Legend |
| $100,000 tournaments |
| $75,000 tournaments |
| $50,000 tournaments |
| $25,000 tournaments |
| $15,000 tournaments |
| $10,000 tournaments |
|
| Finals by surface |
| Hard (1–0) |
| Clay (0–0) |
| Grass (0–0) |
| Carpet (0–0) |
|
| Outcome |
No. |
Date |
Tournament |
Surface |
Partner |
Opponents |
Score |
| Winner |
1. |
15 August 2011 |
Westende, Belgium |
Hard |
 Alexandra Walker |
Anouk Delefortrie
Déborah Kerfs |
6–4, 6–3 |
Grand Slam performance timeline
Singles
Doubles
Fed Cup participation
Singles
| Edition |
Stage |
Date |
Location |
Against |
Surface |
Opponent |
W/L |
Score |
2012 Fed Cup
Europe/Africa Zone Group I |
R/R |
2 February 2012 |
Eilat, Israel |
 Poland |
Hard |
Urszula Radwańska |
L |
3–6, 3–6 |
| P/O |
4 February 2012 |
Bosnia and Herzegovina |
Anita Husarić |
W |
6–2, 6–0 |
2013 Fed Cup
Europe/Africa Zone Group I |
R/R |
6 February 2013 |
Eilat, Israel |
 Austria |
Hard |
Yvonne Meusburger |
W |
6–1, 6–3 |
| 7 February 2013 |
 Georgia |
Margalita Chakhnashvili |
W |
6–0, 6–1 |
| 8 February 2013 |
 Belarus |
Ilona Kremen |
W |
6–1, 7–6(7–2) |
| P/O |
9 February 2013 |
Poland |
Agnieszka Radwańska |
L |
3–6, 2–6 |
2014 Fed Cup
Europe/Africa Zone Group I |
R/R |
4 February 2014 |
Budapest, Hungary |
 Netherlands |
Hard (i) |
Kiki Bertens |
L |
2–6, 4–6 |
| 5 February 2014 |
 Luxembourg |
Anne Kremer |
W |
6–1, 6–2 |
| 7 February 2014 |
Belgium |
Yanina Wickmayer |
L |
3–6, 2–6 |
| P/O |
9 February 2014 |
 Turkey |
Melis Sezer |
W |
6–2, 6–1 |
2015 Fed Cup
Europe/Africa Zone Group I |
R/R |
4 February 2015 |
Budapest, Hungary |
 Israel |
Hard (i) |
Julia Glushko |
W |
6–2, 6–7(6–8), 7–5 |
| 5 February 2015 |
 Latvia |
Jeļena Ostapenko |
L |
3–6, 1–6 |
| P/O |
7 February 2015 |
 Serbia |
Aleksandra Krunić |
L |
1–6, 1–6 |
Doubles
References
External links
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