Garcia had a 4-2 advantage over Mertens going into the match; her most recent victory came last summer on the way to the Cincinnati title.
Follow Us
best seed The Abierto GNP Seguros final between Caroline Garcia and Donna Vekic, the third seed, will take place on Sunday in Monterrey, Mexico. The World No. 5 defeated No. 4 seed Elise Mertens 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals to advance to her second season final. Earlier, No. 31 Vekic beat No. 5 seed Zhu Lin 7-5, 6-2 to advance to her first season final. Eight years after making her first Monterrey final, Garcia has enjoyed a faultless run to her second. The Frenchwoman has won matches against Kara Juvan, Nuria Parrizas Dias, Mayar Sherif, and Mertens this week without dropping a set. In her four victories, she has only faced six break points and has only once been broken.
Garcia had a 4-2 advantage over Mertens going into the match; her most recent victory came last summer on the way to the Cincinnati title. Garcia kept the Belgian at bay by playing a confident attacking game, scoring 33 goals to just 14 unforced mistakes throughout the game. Mertens responded with 17 victories to Garcia’s 15 unforced errors, but she was unable to stand up to Garcia’s constant pressure.
“It was very intense. Every point as super important since the very first game of the match. We had a lot of break points to save, both of us, and they were saved with a lot of winners,” said the Frenchwoman. Garcia will attempt to tie Vekic in their previous meeting on Sunday. Their most recent encounter took place at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, and the Croatian has prevailed in five of their nine encounters. Vekic is attempting to win her fourth Hologic WTA Tour championship, while Garcia is attempting to win her 12th.
“Donna is having an amazing beginning of the year and a strong end of the year last year also,” Garcia said. “She proved already in the past that she’s a good player and today she had a solid semifinal. It’s a big match for me to play and I’m very excited.”
Vekic has lost just one set this week in Monterrey thanks to her powerful baseline game and clutch play on the crucial points of the match against Zhu. Vekic is breaking new ground in Monterrey after never making it past the second round in her previous three appearances. The Croatian has a record of 11-5 in Hologic WTA Tour semifinal matches, and Sunday’s final will be her first since she placed second in San Diego last fall.
Vekic and Zhu fought through a close first set in their first encounter since 2015 in which neither player earned more than one break point. In her opening service game, Vekic eliminated Zhu’s sole opportunity before succeeding on her sole break opportunity in the penultimate game to take the lead, 6-5. Vekic won the first set after 56 minutes with 17 winners to Zhu’s nine.
“It was not an easy match, it was really solid,” Vekic said after the win. “I was just waiting for my opportunity to come and I was lucky that I was patient enough and I used the first opportunity I had to break her. I think I changed the rhythm really well which didn’t suit her at all. When I had an easier ball I was aggressive and finished well at the net.”
