Donna Vekić into last 16 at Australian Open

Donna Vekić (Photo credit: si.robi/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.)

Croatian tennis player Donna Vekić (28) has continued her impressive run of form at Grand Slams.

The world number 19 from Osijek has reached the last 16 at the Australian Open after a gruelling three hours and one minute battle.

Vekić beat the 12th seed Russian Diana Shnaider 7-6, 6-7, 7-5 to secure a place in the fourth round in Melbourne.

In the first set, Vekić won in a tie-break, while Shnaider returned the favour in the second. The Russian player then took a 5-3 lead in the final set and served for the match, but that’s when Donna turned things around. She won four consecutive games to claim a remarkable victory.

Vekić broke her opponent’s serve six times out of nine opportunities, delivered 10 aces, and hit 44 winners alongside 38 unforced errors. The last and only time Donna reached the quarter-finals in Australia was in 2023, and she now has the chance to repeat that achievement.

To do so, she will need to overcome another Russian player, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (WTA 32), who secured a commanding 6-1, 6-2 victory over Germany’s Laura Siegemund (36, WTA 97) in just an hour and a half.

The match is scheduled for Sunday, 19th January.