Donna Vekić
Donna Vekić 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 Women's 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 No. 19 in the WTA rankings.
Professional career
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.2012–2013: First WTA Tour finals
At the 2012 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.Vekić started her year off by entering the main draw of the 2013 Australian Open. She defeated Andrea Hlaváčková in the first round 6–1, 6–2. In the second round, Vekić fell to the tenth seed and former world No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki, 1–6, 4–6.
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 7–6, 6–0. In the second round, she lost to the 29th seed Elena Vesnina. At the Monterrey Open, Vekić 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. She lost in the first round to third seed Klára Zakopalová. At the Australian Open, Vekić was defeated in the first round by qualifier Lucie Hradecká.In Thailand at the PTT Pattaya Open, Vekić lost in the first round to top seed Sabine Lisicki. At the Brasil Tennis Cup, Vekić was defeated in the first round by third seed and eventual champion Klára Zakopalová. In March, Vekić was awarded a wildcard for the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. She lost in the second round to twelfth seed Dominika Cibulková. At the Sony Open Tennis in Miami, Vekić came through qualifying with wins over Alla Kudryavtseva and Johanna Larsson. In the main draw, she upset twenty-eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round. She was defeated in the third round by eighth seed Petra Kvitová. At the Monterrey Open, Vekić beat fifth seed Garbiñe Muguruza in the first round in two tie-breaking sets, but lost to Karolína Plíšková in the second round in three sets. Seeded seventh at the Malaysian Open, Vekić won her first career WTA title by defeating top seed Dominika Cibulková in the final.
At the Mutua 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.
Vekić played one grass-court tournament before Wimbledon at the Aegon Classic. She was defeated in the first round by Belinda Bencic. At the Wimbledon Championships, Vekić stunned twenty-first seed Roberta Vinci in the first round. She lost in the second round to 2010 Wimbledon finalist Vera Zvonareva.
In Turkey at the İstanbul Cup, Vekić was defeated in the first round by third seed Klára Koukalová. At the Baku Cup, Vekić lost in the second round to Kristina Mladenovic.
Vekić started her US Open Series at the Rogers Cup. She was defeated in the first round of qualifying by Tamira Paszek. In Ohio at the Western & Southern Open, Vekić lost in the first round of qualifying to Monica Niculescu. At the Connecticut Open, Vekić was defeated in the first round of qualifying by Belinda Bencic. In New York at the US Open, Vekić lost in the first round to American Coco Vandeweghe.
Seeded fifth at the Tashkent Open, Vekić was defeated in the second round by Urszula Radwańska. At the Korea Open, Vekić lost in the first round to Maria Kirilenko. Despite qualifying for the first edition of the Wuhan Open, Vekić was defeated in the first round by sixteenth seed Andrea Petkovic.
2015: Fourth WTA final and French Open third round
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 tournament 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 2–6, 2–6 to Nao Hibino. She ended the season ranked No. 105.
2016
Vekić began the season ranked 103. At the Australian Open, she lost 3–6, 2–6 in the first round to Japanese 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 Masters in August, Vekić had victories over Varvara Lepchenko and Mariana Duque-Marino in qualifying, and defeated world No. 25 Ana Ivanovic 6–4, 6–2 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 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 6–2, 6–7, 6–3, 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
She reached the second round at the Australian Open, where she lost 3–6, 1–6 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 6–7, 6–4, 8–10. At the US Open, she reached the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since the 2015 French Open, losing 2–6, 3–6 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
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.2020
Vekić kicked off her 2020 season at the Brisbane International. She lost in the first round to qualifier Yulia Putintseva. Playing at the first edition of the Adelaide International, Vekić reached the quarterfinal where she was defeated by eventual finalist Dayana Yastremska. At the Australian Open, Vekić beat 2008 champion and former world number one Maria Sharapova in the first round. She lost in the third round to Iga Świątek.In Russia at the St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy, Vekić was the seventh seed and last year finalist. She was defeated in the second round by Ekaterina Alexandrova. Seeded seventeenth at the Qatar Total Open, Vekić lost in the first round to Iga Świątek.
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, 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 flat and with much pace, is her greatest asset. She is also a quick mover, with impressive speed and footwork. 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 isn't proficient on slower courts such as clay courts, and she struggles against all-court players who play with variety, such as Ashleigh Barty, Iga Świątek, and Anastasija Sevastova.Performance timelines
- Sourced from WTA
Singles
Current through the suspension of the 2020 WTA Tour.Notes
- WTA Tournament of Champions was held from 2009 to 2014, when WTA Elite Trophy replaced it.
- The first Premier 5 event of the year has switched back and forth between the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Qatar Open since 2009. Dubai was classified as a Premier 5 event from 2009–2011 before being succeeded by Doha for the 2012–2014 period. In 2015, Dubai regained its Premier 5 status while Doha was demoted to Premier status. The two tournaments have since alternated status every year.
- In 2014, the Pan Pacific Open was downgraded to a Premier event and replaced by the Wuhan Open.
- 2011: WTA ranking–392.
Doubles
WTA finals
Singles: 8 (2 titles, 6 runner-ups)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Loss | 0–1 | 2012 Tashkent Open – Singles| | Tashkent Open, Uzbekistan | International | Hard |  Irina-Camelia Begu | 4–6, 4–6 |
| Loss | 0–2 | 2013 Aegon Classic – Singles| | Birmingham Classic, United Kingdom | International | Grass |  Daniela Hantuchová | 6–7, 4–6 |
| Win | 1–2 | 2014 Malaysian Open – Singles| | Malaysian Open, Malaysia | International | Hard | Dominika Cibulková | 5–7, 7–5, 7–6 |
| Loss | 1–3 | 2015 Tashkent Open – Singles| | Tashkent Open, Uzbekistan | International | Hard |  Nao Hibino | 2–6, 2–6 |
| Win | 2–3 | 2017 Aegon Open Nottingham – Women's Singles| | Nottingham Open, United Kingdom | International | Grass |  Johanna Konta | 2–6, 7–6, 7–5 |
| Loss | 2–4 | 2018 Citi Open – Women's Singles| | Citi Open, United States | International | Hard |  Svetlana Kuznetsova | 6–4, 6–7, 2–6 |
| Loss | 2–5 | 2019 St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy – Singles| | St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy, Russia | Premier | Hard |  Kiki Bertens | 6–7, 4–6 |
| Loss | 2–6 | 2019 Nottingham Open – Women's Singles| | Nottingham Open, United Kingdom | International | Grass |  Caroline Garcia | 6–2, 6–7, 6–7 |
ITF Circuit finals
Singles: 13 (5 titles, 8 runner–ups)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Loss | 0–1 | Apr 2011 | ITF Hvar, Croatia | 10,000 | Clay |  Ema Burgić | 5–7, 6–7 |
| Win | 1–1 | Jul 2011 | ITF Chiswick, United Kingdom | 10,000 | Hard |  Bojana Bobusic | 3–6, 6–3, 6–3 |
| Loss | 1–2 | Aug 2011 | ITF Westende, Belgium | 10,000 | Hard |  Lu Jiajing | 4–6, 6–7 |
| Loss | 1–3 | Oct 2011 | ITF Lagos, Nigeria | 25,000 | Hard |  Elina Svitolina | 4–6, 3–6 |
| Loss | 1–4 | Oct 2011 | ITF Lagos, Nigeria | 25,000 | Hard |  Tamaryn Hendler | 4–6, 5–7 |
| Win | 2–4 | Mar 2012 | ITF Bangalore, India | 25,000 | Hard |  Andrea Koch Benvenuto | 6–2, 6–4 |
| Loss | 2–5 | Apr 2012 | ITF Namangan, Uzbekistan | 25,000 | Hard | Olga Puchkova | 6–3, 3–6, 2–6 |
| Win | 3–5 | May 2012 | ITF Fergana, Uzbekistan | 25,000 | Hard | Nadiia Kichenok | 6–2, 6–2 |
| Loss | 3–6 | Jul 2012 | ITF Campos do Jordão, Brazil | 25,000 | Hard |  María Irigoyen | 5–7, 0–6 |
| Loss | 3–7 | Jul 2012 | ITF Wrexham, United Kingdom | 25,000 | Hard |  Carina Witthöft | 2–6, 7–6, 2–6 |
| Win | 4–7 | 2013 Lale Cup – Singles| | ITF Istanbul, Turkey | 50,000 | Hard | Elizaveta Kulichkova | 6–4, 7–6 |
| Loss | 4–8 | 2016 Neva Cup – Singles| | ITF Saint Petersburg, Russia | 100,000 | Hard | Natalia Vikhlyantseva | 1–6, 2–6 |
| Win | 5–8 | 2016 Soho Square Ladies Tournament – Singles| | ITF Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt | 100,000 | Hard |  Sara Sorribes Tormo | 6–2, 6–7, 6–3 |
Doubles: 1 (1 title)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| Win | 1–0 | Aug 2011 | ITF Westende, Belgium | 10,000 | Hard | Alexandra Walker | Anouk Delefortrie Déborah Kerfs | 6–4, 6–3 |