Paris Olympics, tennis: Donna Vekic upsets Coco Gauff, reaches quarter-finals
Croatian star Donna Vekic reached the tennis women's singles quarter-finals at the 2024 Paris Olympics after beating world number two Coco Gauff. Vekic claimed a 7-6(7), 6-2 victory in what was an emphatic fightback from the Croatian. She bounced back from 2-5 down in the first set. Notably, Gauff is still alive in the women's doubles and mixed doubles events.
A look at match stats
Vekic won a total of 80 points throughout the match. She served five aces compared to Gauff's none. The former won 10 backhand and 18 forehand winners. She won 33 of her 67 receiving points and converted four of her six break points. Vekic (39) had more unforced errors than Gauff (21). The latter recorded seven double-faults.
Second Top 10 win of 2024 for Vekic
As per WTA, Vekic secured her second Top 10 win of the ongoing season. Overall, she has won 14 such matches in her career. This marked Vekic's 23rd match of the season. She earlier reached the women's singles semi-finals at Wimbledon.
A special win on clay
According to WTA, Vekic also won a match against a top-three player at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She defeated then number three Aryna Sabalenka. However, each of her previous Top 10 wins came on either hard or grass courts. She defeated Gauff on clay as the 2024 Paris Olympics tennis competitions are being played at Roland Garros.
A shock defeat for Gauff
It is worth noting that Guaff was one of the medal hopefuls in tennis women singles. The world number two defeated Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic and Argentina's Maria Lourdes Carle before losing to Vekic. As mentioned, Gauff is still alive in women's doubles (with United States' Jessica Pegula) and mixed doubles (with United States' Taylor Fritz).
