The Croatian took out Anna Karolina Schmiedlova and will join Zheng Qinwen in Saturday’s Olympic final.
Donna Vekic fell in heartbreaking fashion at Wimbledon, losing an epic semifinal to Italy’s Jasmine Paolini that left her gutted despite having reached her maiden major semifinal at the Championships.
Donna’s on a high!!!! pic.twitter.com/bgyIRP3wTb
— TennisNow (@Tennis_Now) August 1, 2024
Just a few weeks later, remarkably, the Croatian with the forehand to die for has summoned her very best tennis to notch an even more impressive accomplishment.
13th-seeded Vekic dashed past Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-4, 6-0 on Thursday to reach Friday’s Olympic gold medal match in Paris. In the process she becomes the first player from Croatia to ever reach an Olympic singles final.
The 28-year-old World No.21 let the tears flow as she finished off her biggest career win on Court Philippe Chatrier – she has defeated Lucia Bronzetti, Bianca Andreescu, Coco Gauff, Marta Kostyuk and Schmiedlova to reach the final, and will face China’s Zheng Qinwen, the No.6 seed for the gold medal.
The pair have split their two previous tilts.
Going for the GOLD 🥇
Who will win it all in Paris? @Olympics | #Paris2024 | #Tennis pic.twitter.com/kONZ667Z51
— wta (@WTA) August 1, 2024
21-year-old Zheng stunned World No.1 Iga Swiatek on Thursday to reach the final. The Pole had not lost on the red clay of Roland-Garros since 2021.