On June 28, 1996, Croatian professional tennis player and businesswoman Donna Vekic was born. She won three singles titles on the WTA Tour in the 2014 Malaysian Open, the 2017 Nottingham Open, and the 2021 Courmayeur Ladies Open. She has also won five singles titles and one doubles title on the ITF Circuit. Her best singles performance came in the 2019 US Open, where she advanced to the quarterfinals. She reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 19 in November 2019. Vekic reached her first WTA Tour final at the Tashkent Open. She made her debut main-draw participation there, where she became the event’s youngest finalist in six years. She was, however, beaten in straight sets by Irina-Camelia Begu.
Vekic is a baseliner with aggressiveness. She has a strong first serve that can result in aces and has been clocked at up to 111 mph (178 km/h), albeit this measurement is sometimes erroneous, therefore her usual first serve percentages are between 50 and 60 percent. She compensates for this with a dependable second serve, making double errors rare. Her forehand, which is hit hard, flat, and quickly, is her best weapon. Her strong groundstrokes allow her to control play from the baseline. She makes a significant amount of both winners and unforced errors as a result of her rapid and aggressive style of play. She moves with great speed and footwork and is a quick learner.
She defeated French player Alize Cornet in one of her three victories, winning all three of them in straight sets. She started the Australian Open ranked 64th after winning the United Cup. In order to reach her maiden Australian Open quarterfinal, she beat Oksana Selekhmeteva, 18th seed Liudmila Samsonova, Nuria Parrizas-Diaz, and Linda Fruhvirtova. She was defeated in straight sets by Aryna Sabalenka, who would go on to win the match. As a result, she rose 30 spots in the rankings and reentered the top 40 in the world at position 34.
Who is Pam Shriver?
Pamela Howard Shriver is a former professional tennis player from the United States who is now a tennis broadcaster, pundit, and coach. Shriver won 133 WTA Tour-level titles between the 1980s and 1990s, including 21 singles titles, 111 women’s doubles titles, and one mixed doubles title. There are 22 major titles in total, 21 in women’s doubles and one in mixed doubles. Shriver also won an Olympic gold medal in women’s doubles with Zina Garrison in 1988 in Seoul. Shriver and regular doubles partner Martina Navratilova are the only women’s doubles pair to win all four majors in a calendar year, doing so in 1984. She was ranked as high as third in the world in singles and first in doubles.
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