Donna Vekic took her 4th career's WTA title after defeating Caroline Garcia in the Sunday's final of WTA 250 Abierto GNP Seguros in Monterrey. The Croatian made an upset on tournament's top seed by clinching the final victory after three sets of battle ended up with a score 6-4 3-6 7-5.
Garcia was a pre-match favorite after a display of stunning performance throughout whole the week in Monterrey. The world's number 5 approached the final without losing a single set, and losing just one single service game in all the four matches so far. The final match was expected to be a great tennis spectacle, as Vekic was for sure the most difficult player to defeat from whole the Monterrey's field, scoring 13 wins to just 2 loses in 2023 so far.
The match started well for the Croatian, who earned the early break in 3rd game and was keeping her service well until the end of set. Vekic had some trouble with serving for the set in 10th game, while being 0-40 down. The tournament's seed #3 cleared the danger in style, winning 5 points in a row since and winning the set 6-4.
Vekic had her momentum, opening another set with a break and being in a driver's seat to win this match, but Garcia did not give up and showed her class by winning 5 games in a row since a score 0-2, taking the whole second set by 6-3 and forcing the decider.
Third set was the story, which can hurt the tournament's top seed, as a hugely wasted chance. Garcia produced 8 breakpoints in whole the third set, starting from 4 chances in opening game and another 4 in 7th game. The latter ended up with a huge hold by Vekic, who secured her serve after 8 deuces, denying the pre-match favorite to move into the lead in a crucial phase of the match. Once this emotional set was clearly moving into tie-break, Garcia suffered the weak moment in the 12th game, being 0-40 down on serve and facing 3 matchpoints. Vekic did not wait too long, converting the first one and winning her first tournament since October 2021. Great victory for Vekic, who earned it by staying composed and being clinical in the key points of this match. She converted all her 3 breakpoint chances, while Garcia created as many as 16 breakpoints and used just 2 of them. Any single one from 8 chances in the decider could make the final score different. It is second lose in a row for Garcia in her final appearances in 2023, while the French was a pre-match favorite in both of them.
"It was a crazy match until the end, Caroline was playing so well and so deep. I was trying to win as many points as I could. It was not easy, but I am really happy to win It has been a great start of the year for me. If the title did not come now, I believe that it would have come soon. So I have been playing good tennis, and I just need to keep working hard and hopefully stay healthy, and I am sure I will keep having good results." - said the new Abierto GNP Seguros champion in post-match interview.
