Donna Vekic, the 15-year-old from Croatia, humbled fourth seed Andrea Koch-Benvenuto of Chile 6-2, 6-4 in just about 70 minutes to win the $25,000 QNet ITF Open women's tennis championship at the KSLTA centre court here on Saturday.
“I am happy…and the week has been good for me. There was no pressure of playing a final as I was playing well throughout the week,” said the long limbed teenager after the match.
The crowd was witness to some good tennis and most of it came from the Croatian. The 26-year-old Koch-Bencenuto did produce a few stunning winners, but they were few and far between.
Most often it was the unforced error that was her undoing. In a bid to finish off rallies the Chilean went for the lines and missed time and again. Vekic was on a roll in the first set and her opponent managed to hold just her first two service games before faltering.
In the second the games went with serves till 4-all and with Koch-Benvenuto producing some winners one was tempted to think of a revival in her fortunes.
But the Chilean erred badly in the 10th game, twice netting her forehand and then hitting far too wide to gift the set and match to her much younger opponent. “She played some great tennis today,” admitted Koch-Benvenuto after the match.
“I am happy for the way I played this tournament and having been in the circuit for sometime and won two ITF events last year…could have done better but it was not to be,” she admitted.
While Vekic earned $2,940 for her week long effort, Koch-Benvenuto pocketed $1,666 for the runner-up finish.
The results: Singles: Final: Donna Vekic (Cro) bt Andrea Koch- Benvenuto (Chi) 6-2, 6-4.
