Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino stoops to Donna Vekic in the second round – Tashkent Open 2012
World number 91, Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino, fell victim to an upset at the hands of the 16-year-old Croatian kid, Donna Vekic, who registered emphatic straight sets 6-2, 6-2 victory against the Spaniard in a battle of an hour and
12 minutes. With this triumph, she becomes the only qualifier to reach the quarter-final stage of the tournament.
Vekic stated in a post-match interview "It's an amazing feeling. I'm absolutely thrilled to make my first quarterfinal at a WTA event. The points are important, but developing my game and as an athlete is more important for me
in the next few years. She was a tough player, but I played very well."
The Spaniard began the encounter in poor style. She failed to hold serve in the first game of the match and managed to win just one point in the following game that sunk her to a trail of 0-2. The initial outbreak worked in favour
of the 16-year-old Croatian who was pumped up to register yet another upset; having made it this far through the qualifying stages.
Vekic continued the onslaught; thumped her rival with mind-startling returns and smashed a world class winner down the line to bag the second breakthrough of the match. She posted a resounding lead of 4-1 and looked much better
than her rival; more likely to make an impact in the following games.
Vecino fought back in the following game with a breakthrough but just to see her opponent snatching the lead back in the following game with the help of the third breakpoint. No mistake was committed by the Croatian teenager in
the eighth game of the match and bagged the opening set with ease.
The start to the second set wasn’t good at all for the Spaniard. She lost the first game and couldn’t recover the trail in the following game; allowing her opponent to consolidate her position. The 183rd ranked Croatian
bagged the second breakpoint of the match in the fifth game; didn’t make any mistake in the previous serve games and the lead was enhanced to 4-1.
Vekic was under the cosh in the following game but she managed to escape the scare; saving three back-to-back breakpoints before registering the serve hold. It was a world class effort from the Croatian who won the match with a
sublime serve hold in the eighth game of the second set.
Up next for Donna Vekic is the sixth seed Serb, Bojana Jovanovski.
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