Fan favorite Donna Vekic had to wait for hours before taking the court at the Philippine Women’s Open, but even rain delay couldn't stop the Paris Olympics silver medalist from moving to the second round.
Croatia’s Donna Vekic endured an hours long weather delay before storming to victory over Japan’s Kyoka Okamura, 6-2, 6-2, in the Round of 32 of the Philippine Women’s Open at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center on Tuesday.
Vekic, who played second on center court, had to wait for an extended period of time after rain hampered action in Day 2 of the main draw of this WTA 125 tournament.
A familiar face for Filipino tennis fans after already facing Alex Eala twice this month, Vekic was easily among the crowd favorites in the blockbuster Manila joust.
In her opening match, local fans filled center court mostly in support of the Paris 2024 Olympics silver medalist.
Despite some early resistance from Okamura, Vekic was able to play her game and capitalize on her service, firing off five aces in the convincing victory that was wrapped up in a little over an hour.
After the match, Vekic said that she was able to manage the rain delay by keeping up to date on the ongoing Australian Open in Melbourne, among other things.
“Yeah, it was a long wait today, but I was watching some tennis in Australia. I had a pedicure, I was eating some food and talking to some friends, trying to stay relaxed but focused,” she said.
Now, Vekic faces a quick turnaround as she is set to battle Mariia Tkacheva in the Round of 16 on Wednesday. Tkacheva aced her own Round of 32 match against Sara Saito, 6-2, 6-2.
Meanwhile, the final offering on center court saw 6-seed Lulu Sun upset by China’s Zhu Lin, 7-5, 6-4.
Zhu, ranked 164th in the WTA rankings, recovered from a 4-5 deficit in the opening set, winning three straight games to pull ahead of Sun, 7-5.
She then rode the momentum and zoomed to a 5-2 advantage in the second set.
Despite Sun’s comeback efforts, which included saving a match point and breaking Zhu’s serve to get within a game, 4-5, Zhu was able to score a break back to seal the deal.
In the earlier matches, Solana Sierra took care of business to march on as the 3-seed after beating Chinese Taipei’s Joanna Garland, 6-4, 7-6(5).
Meanwhile, Himeno Sakatsume set up a clash with Eala after beating compatriot Nao Hibino, 6-3, 7-5.
[RELATED: Himeno Sakatsume sets up clash against Alex Eala in Philippine Women’s Open]
Other results saw no. 1 seed Tatjana Maria move on to the next round after beating Leolia Jeanjean, 7-6(5), 6-4. 8th seed Darja Semenistaja wasn’t so lucky as she was dropped by YeXin Ma, 6-1, 7-6(6).
Russia’s Tatiana Prozorova dominated home bet Kaye Emana, 6-1, 6-0, in the other match.
Doubles matches were postponed to Wednesday, January 28, because of the rain delay.
[RELATED: Day 2 of Philippine Women’s Open hampered by rain delay]
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Luisa Morales is a sports writer with a special interest in promoting women’s sports.
Her coverage highlights include the UAAP, PVL, Southeast Asian Games, and the FIBA World Cup. She also follows Alex Eala, the Philippine women’s national football team, and mixed martial arts.