Vekic rises out of Wawrinka's shadow with second title

By Nina Pantic Jun 19, 2017
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Vekic rises out of Wawrinka's shadow with second title

The Croat took out home favorite Johanna Konta in the Nottingham

ByNina Pantic

Published Jun 19, 2017

Donna Vekic pulled off a huge upset on Sunday in Nottingham by taking out home favorite Johanna Konta for her second career title. The Croatian hadn't won a title since her first one back in 2014 in Kuala Lumpur.

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The win pushed the 20-year-old's ranking to a career-high spot of No. 58. Her previous career-high ranking was just four spots lower at No. 62, set back in 2013.

"I was playing those finals when I was 16 and 17, and it was more me who was putting pressure on myself, thinking OK, I have to win every tournament now,'" Vekic said. "Then all the other young girls came up, and like Belinda [Bencic], she was in the Top 10, and I was thinking, ‘What am I doing wrong?...

"But I wasn't really doing anything wrong. It just takes time and I had to fall to get back up."

In her few years of struggles, even slipping nearly outside the Top 200, Vekic gained more fame as Stan Wawrinka's girlfriend than for her on-court results.

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After losing in the French Open first round, Vekic traveled to a $100,000 in Surbiton, where she also dropped her opening match. The only good news was that she was able to watch Wawrinka reach the final in Paris.

The Swiss' winning ways must have rubbed off on Vekic as she took out three seeds in Nottingham, including an epic 7-6 in the third-set win over Lucie Safarova in the semifinals.

Vekic actually credited a daily meal of Nando's chicken for her victorious week.

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Konta was attempting to become the first British Nottingham winner in 36 years.

Follow Nina on Twitter: @ninapantic1