Donna Vekic shares excitement over breaking into top 20 of WTA rankings for second time in her career
Donna Vekic recently shared her excitement over breaking into the top 20 of the WTA rankings for the second time in her career.
Vekic first made the top 20 in November 2019 when she achieved a career-high ranking of No. 19. However, it was short-lived as she dropped out of the top 20 in January 2020. the Croat has been struggling with a knee injury for the past few years and underwent knee surgery after the 2021 Australian Open.
Despite her injury woes, Vekic made it to the final of the San Diego Open in October last year, where she fell to Iga Swiatek in three sets, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0. In an interview after the tournament, she disclosed that she nearly called it quits twice after her knee surgery.
Vekic, however, has risen like a phoenix from the ashes, winning the 2023 Abierto GNP Seguros, a WTA 250 tournament played in Monterrey, Mexico, on March 6. She defeated top seed Caroline Garcia 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in the summit clash. Following the win, she rose to No. 24 in the world.
On Sunday, March 20, Vekic took to Instagram to share the exciting news that she has broken into the top 20 once again. She shared an image of herself along with a cut-out of her WTA rankings page and captioned the image with a number of emojis.
A look back at the best moments in Donna Vekic's career
Donna Vekic turned pro in 2012 and broke into the top 100 in 2013. She has won four singles titles on the WTA Tour.
Her first title came in 2014 when she won the BMW Malaysian Open by defeating Dominika Cibulkova 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(4) in the final.
In 2017, an unseeded Vekic outclassed British No. 1 Johanna Konta in the final of the Nottingham Open, 2-6, 7-6(3), 7-5. The Croat's third title came more than three years later at the 2021 Courmayeur Ladies Open in Italy, where she beat Clara Tauson 7-6(3), 6-2.
Vekic has also made two Grand Slam quarterfinals — the 2019 US Open where she fell to Belinda Bencic and this year's Australian Open where she was defeated by Aryna Sabalenka, who went on to win the title.