Garcia and Vekic to play for the WTA 250 title in Monterrey

Caroline Garcia and Donna Vekic will play in the Sunday's final of WTA 250 tournament in Monterrey. Both players reached the final after defeating their opponents in straight sets during semifinals.

Garcia, tournament's top seed, stormed to the final with a flawless performance throughout whole the week. The world's number 5 conceded just one break during all her four matches in Monterrey, advancing to the final without losing any single set. Elise Mertens was the most difficult opponent on paper, setting up the most interesting pairing of the tournament so far in Saturday's semifinal. The Belgian made some challenge for Garcia from the start of the match, having two breakpoint chances in the opening game and another two ones in 7th game, but it was the French who gained the only one and decisive break in 8th game of first set, winning it 6-3. Garcia was a better player in second set, putting the pressure on Mertens in every game, producing 5 breakpoints and gaining the break in 9th game, sealing the advance into final with a score 6-3 6-4.

Donna Vekic approached the final after a bit more bumpy road. The Croatian has needed to fight for her place in semis in a difficult quarterfinal match against Ysaline Bonaventure. The match was decided in third set tie-break after some trouble for the tournament's seed #3. Vekic was a break down after the start of decider and losing 1-3 in tiebreak. Vekic raised up her level to deny an upset from the Belgian and advanced into the semifinal, where she defeated Lin Zhu in straight sets. First set was a tough battle, ended up after almost an hour with a decisive break gained in 11th by Vekic. Second set was a one-way traffic for Croatian, as she won it 6-2 and advanced into her first final since last year's WTA 500 in San Diego.

Garcia and Vekic played against themselves 8 times so far with 4 wins shared by both. The last two matches were won by Vekic, but it was quite a time ago. The last duel between Monterrey's finalists took place during the Olympic Games in 2021, where Vekic prevailed in three sets.