SAN DIEGO, February 28, 2024 (by Richard Osborne)
Croatia’s Donna Vekic and Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska were among those moving into the second round of the Cymbiotika San Diego Open on a busy Tuesday at Barnes Tennis Center.Vekic, a finalist here in 2022, dispatched local wildcard Katherine Hui, 7-5, 6-2, in the San Diegan’s WTA Tour singles debut. A Santa Fe Christian School graduate now playing on the collegiate level at Stanford, Hui is the reigning US Open girls’ singles titlist.With her coaches Nikola Horvat and International Tennis Hall of Famer Pam Shriver seated courtside, the seventh seed Vekic would win 77 percent of her first-serve points (24 of 31) and convert seven of 10 break points against her 19-year-old opponent.
ALL of the lights 💫@DonnaVekic kicks off her campaign in San Diego with a win in straight sets 7-5, 6-2 over Hui. #SanDiegoOpen pic.twitter.com/WGjErevh7Y
— wta (@WTA) February 28, 2024
“She’s a tough player,” said Vekic. “She’s still very young. I think she has a great career ahead of her.”“It was definitely a really good learning experience,” said Hui, who only days ago was playing a college match against the University of Texas. “Donna’s a great player. I’ve watched her a lot. I knew that I had to being my ‘A’ game. I’m a little disappointed with the result and I definitely think there are some things I can work on but, overall, it was really nice being able to play at home with the crowd.”A first-time major semifinalist last month at the Australian Open, Yastremska had to dig deep in outlasting American Caroline Dolehide, 6-4, 5-7, 6-1. The 23-year-old was up a set and a break only to have her opponent force a decider. Yastremska would overcome nine double faults in the two-hour, eight-minute matchup.“I felt a little bit like I forgot how to play tennis,” laughed Yastremska, the fifth seed. “Second set, I feel like I just lost my mind a little bit. But in the third set, I changed. I told myself, ‘Okay, you just go on court and try to do whatever you can.’ The most important is the serve, because in the second set I was struggling with it.”Crafty German veteran Tatjana Maria, 36, advanced when eighth seed Leylah Fernandez retired with a left shoulder injury trailing 0-4 in the second set. It marks the third consecutive year the 21-year-old Canadian, a US Open finalist in 2021, has failed to reach the second round in San Diego. It remains to be seen whether the setback will affect her readiness for the BNP Paribas Open, which gets underway next week in Indian Wells.Anna Blinkova, 25, continues to pile up marquee wins with her powerful, aggressive game. The 51st-ranked baseliner upset world No. 3 Elena Rybakina last month in the second round of the Australian Open. On Tuesday night, she roared back from a set down to defeat former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1.“It was a crazy match. She started really well. She was outplaying me. She was much better than me in the first set,” said Blinkova, who will next face Yastremska. “I couldn’t find solutions. I was down a set and 2-love, but I was just telling myself to not give up, that it’s never too late to come back. I was thinking positively and fighting for every point.”Czech Katerina Siniakova, a doubles titlist here last year with countrywoman Barbora Krejcikova, was victorious in singles on Court 2. The 27-year-old outhit Japanese qualifier Mai Hontama, 6-3, 6-1, in one hour and 13 minutes. Australian wildcard Taylah Preston was a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 winner over Poland’s Magdalena Frech.
San Diego Open – Barnes Tennis Center$ 922,573February 26-March 3 2024Results – Tuesday, Feb 27R16 – [1] D. Krawczyk (USA) / J. Pegula (USA) d. S. Aoyama (JPN) / F. Wu (TPE) 46 63 10-2R16 – U. Eikeri (NOR) / H. Guo (CHN) d. [WC] E. Deming (USA) / A. Li (USA) 75 62R16 – E. Hozumi (JPN) / M. Ninomiya (JPN) d. X. Wang (CHN) / Y. Xu (CHN) 61 62R32 – A. Blinkova d. [WC] C. Wozniacki (DEN) 16 64 61R32 – [5] D. Yastremska (UKR) d. C. Dolehide (USA) 64 57 61R32 – [WC] T. Preston (AUS) d. M. Frech (POL) 64 46 61R32 – T. Maria (GER) d. [8] L. Fernandez (CAN) 67(7) 40 RETR32 – K. Siniakova (CZE) d. [Q] M. Hontama (JPN) 63 61R32 – [7] D. Vekic (CRO) d. [WC] K. Hui (USA) 75 62Schedule – Wednesday, Feb 28BARNES STADIUM starts at 1:00 PM[WC] T. Preston (AUS) vs [6] M. Kostyuk (UKR)T. Maria (GER) vs [Q] D. Saville (AUS)NB 4:30 PM K. Boulter (GBR) vs [2] B. Haddad Maia (BRA)NB 7:00 PM [1] J. Pegula (USA) vs [Q] J. Niemeier (GER)COURT 2 starts at 1:00 PMM. Kolodziejova (CZE) / K. Piter (POL) vs [2] S. Hunter (AUS) / K. Siniakova (CZE)D. Vekic (CRO) / L. Zhu (CHN) vs [3] N. Melichar-Martinez (USA) / E. Perez (AUS)A. Moratelli (ITA) / C. Rosatello (ITA) vs L. Marozava / K. Zimmermann (BEL)[4] H. Chan (TPE) / G. Olmos (MEX) vs U. Eikeri (NOR) / H. Guo (CHN)
