August 1, 2024 – Croatia’s best tennis player, Donna Vekić, has secured her spot in the semifinals of the Olympic Games, after defeating Ukrainian player Marta Kostjuk 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (8).
It was a thrilling game at the central Philippe Chatrier stadium, lasting a dramatic two hours and 59 minutes.
“I knew it wouldn’t be easy. Kostyuk always plays better when she loses, that’s how it is with her. It was a fight until the last point,” said Vekić, who asked for a break at the beginning of the third set.
“You know what, it took me five minutes to take this off and change, and then to try to regroup… She went on a streak of six games where she didn’t miss a ball.”
Donna was asked where she gets her mental strength for matches like this.
“I don’t know. Especially when playing for Croatia, it’s a little different. A lot more nerves and more emotions because it’s for Croatia. It’s already half past one, I don’t know how I’ll do it, I’ll try to recover. The final? I hope so.”
Vekić, ranked the 21st tennis player in the world, will meet Slovak Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, the 67th player in the world, in the semifinals on Thursday evening. With a win, Vekić would enter the final and secure an Olympic medal. The match should start at 20:30,
Schmiedlova surprisingly knocked out Barbora Krejcikova, the current Wimbledon champion, in the quarterfinals. Vekić played against Schmiedlova only once in her career, six years ago in Luxembourg. The Croatian tennis player did not have many problems then and won 2:0 in sets.
