Vekic Survives thrilling match Against Garcia to win Monterrey Open final

Donna Vekic came out on top in a remarkable match against Caroline Garcia and lifted the Monterrey Open trophy.

The champion of the WTA Finals in 2022 had a great week as the first seed in Monterrey. The Frenchwoman had not dropped a set on her way to the final, and had defeated the fourth seed Elise Mertens without conceding any breaks.

The Croatian has had a great start to the season, despite this being only the third tournament she has played. At the Australian Open, she reached the quarterfinals where she lost to Aryna Sabalenka, who eventually won the title, and in Linz she reached the same round only to lose to the first seed Maria Sakkari. This week, Vekic raised her game even further and reached the final after defeating China's Zhu Lin.

The match was contested from start to finish. The 26-year-old Croat got a break in the third game, taking advantage of the only opportunity she had in the set. Despite Caroline Garcia being much more secure with her serve, she couldn't capitalize on her break point opportunities, giving the first set to Donna Vekic 6-4. The 29-year-old Frenchwoman persisted in the second set, but Vekic quickly got a break to take the lead. Garcia managed to turn the tide by winning 5 games in a row and took the match to a deciding set with a 6-3 scoreline.

Final set was a struggle for Garcia to get a break, but she couldn't capitalize on the many opportunities that Vekic gave her. The Croatian's resilience ultimately gave her the victory before the tie-break. Vekic had 3 break points in her favor during the match and took advantage of each one, while Garcia only managed to convert 2 of the 16 opportunities she had.

The final score was 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in favor of Donna Vekic, who secured the fourth title of her career and has had an incredible start to the 2023 season.