Donna Vekic stronger than Caroline Garcia in Monterrey final
While she argued clean and promising matches to reach the final of the WTA 250 tournament in Monterrey, Caroline Garcia missed the last episode on Sunday, scoring only two of her sixteen break points, against the Croatian Donna Vekic, who won in 2h29 (6 -4, 3-6, 7-5).
The world number five had however launched her final on a shutout but she gave up her engagement at 1-1, never recovering her delay, in particular because in this duel of sluggers, she often returned out of bounds and committed the fault first. When Vekic (31st) served at 5-4, Garcia had a burst that made it 0-40, but she missed her next four returns. In 41 minutes, the first round was over.
With a more closed face than the previous days, the Lyonnaise again lost her second set entry serve. Trailing 6-4, 2-0, however, she clearly became the strongest player on the court and came within one point of playing six games in a row.
Eight break points missed in the third set
Returning to height (6-4, 3-6), it was she who created the most chances in the last round with four break points missed in the first game then four others at 3-3. At 5-5, she found herself again at 0-30, in vain. In the following game, while the Croatian had never managed to have a break point in this set, Garcia dropped her white serve, and the match with it. His 15 aces and 30 forehand winners weren’t enough. “Pretty crazy match, congratulations Donna, I wish you to continue living to a great season”declared the Frenchwoman during the presentation of the trophies.
Quarter-finalist of the last Australian Open, Donna Vekic, 26, now leads 6-4 in her confrontations with the French. At 26, she goes back to 23rd place in the world, four lengths from her record (19th), which dates from 2019. Garcia, she, still in search of a first title this season, remains n°5 in the WTA rankings.
