Donna Vekic looks to close the 2012 chapter with a title at Pune – Tennis News
Donna Vekic of Croatia who is just 16 years of age looks to bank on her breakthrough season by registering another startling show in the Royal Indian Open at Pune. She dismissed the 22-year-old Gerogian, Oksana Kalashnikova, in
a commanding three-setter contest; winning it in a hour and 52 minutes with the final score line of 6-2, 4-6, 6-0. It could have been straight sets victory for the Croatian but a sloppy play towards the ending stage of second set forced her to play the final
battle. However, she recovered well after slipping away from the basics and registered a bagel to stamp her authority.
In an on court interview, Vekic said, “Tashkent was a great week for me - I gained a lot of experience that I'm using now and will use in future matches. Now I just want to improve my ranking. I'm always improving as a player,
and my ranking has been going up quite quickly recently. It motivates me to keep working hard.”
She further added, "Even though I'm quite young, I'm quite mature, and I've always competed with older girls so I think I matured earlier. And I've been working very hard for the last 10 years with my team, they've helped a lot,
and hard work pays off.”
The Tashkent Open was the tournament that brought the teenager into the limelight. She started the tournament from the first qualifier and went all the way into the grand finale before being dumped by the Romanian star, Irina-Camelia
Begu, who broke the duck and clinched her first Women Tennis Association title.
Vekic disposed of Magdelana Rybarikova in the opening round and sidelined the 20-year-old Spaniard Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino in the following battle. Next victim for the 16-year-old Croatian proved to be the Serb professional, Bojana
Jovanovski, who lost in straight sets. Eva Birnerova was dispatched in the semi-final by her. She looked set to record a majestic history by becoming the youngest title holder in the Women Tennis history but failed to do so and crashed out in the final.
Vekic is the third seed contestant in the Royal Indian Open. She has trounced Varatachaya Wongteanchai and Oksana Kalashnikova so far to book a berth in the quarter-final of the event. Next up for her is the eighth seed Thai star,
Tamarine Tanasugarn, who will look to defy the odds and upset the teenager from Canada on the eve of Thursday.
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