Donna Vekic clinched the third WTA title of her career and her first since 2017 after beating Danish teenager Clara Tauson 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 after 1 hour and 46 minutes in the final of the Courmayeur Ladies Open.
Vekic had won just two of her previous six previous finals in Kuala Lumpur 2014 and Nottingham 2017. Tauson had won her first two WTA finals indoors in Lyon and Luxembourg earlier this year.
Vekic, who has not dropped a set this week, started the 2021 season with a fourth round at the Australian Open, but she underwent right knee surgery last February. She has reached just one quarter final in Birmingham since her return from injury at Roland Garros. She dropped outside the top 100 for the first time since December 2016.
The match started with four consecutive breaks of serve. Vekic was the first to hold serve for 3-2. The Croatian player earned the first set point at 5-2, by Tauson saved it with an ace. The Danish teenager fended off her second set point with a return winner. Vekic wasted her third chance with a double fault. Vekic hit five consecutive winners en route to a 6-0 lead in the tie-break and closed out the first set with a forehand on her seventh set point. Vekic won three deuce games from 0-1 down to take a 3-1 lead with a break in the third game of the second set. The Croatian player saved three break points in the second and fourth games. She broke serve in the fifth game and closed out the match on her first championship point.
