WHAT HAPPENED: No. 24 seed Donna Vekic added another satisfying memory in her summer to remember by edging American Peyton Stearns, 7-5, 6-4, in a third-round clash in Stadium 17 on Day 5 of the 2024 US Open.
“It wasn't an easy match for sure. She's playing really good tennis, and it took me a couple of games to really adjust to her pace. She was playing big. She was serving big,” said Vekic, a 28-year-old Croatian who is coached by American Hall of Famer Pam Shriver. "So I was a little bit surprised at the beginning for sure, but after I got into the match, I was playing better and better. I knew I had to stay tough until the end. Even when she broke me, I was, like, okay, just stay calm and hang in there. You'll get your chance again.”
With every cry of “Come on!”—and there were many in the beginning—Stearns served notice she would not be denied easily or quietly in the pair’s first-ever encounter. After saving two break points in the opening game, the 22-year-old American broke her 28-year-old opponent to lead, 3-1. As she’s done all summer, however, Vekic refused to submit, enduring Stearns’ controlled aggression until she got the opportunity to belt her own winners. With assistance from Stearns' back-to-back double faults plus two errant groundstrokes, the 5-foot-10 Vekic broke back before denying two break points on her own serve to even the set at 3-3.
At 5-all, a woman in the crowd drew a smile from Vekic by yelling, “You got it! One point at a time, you got it!” in what seemed until that point to be a pro-American crowd. After Vekic claimed the first set, 7-5, a man donning a Chicago Cubs shirt led a persistent chant of “Let’s go, Donna” that briefly caught on throughout his section behind Vekic’s baseline.
Whether it was the loss of the tight set, Vekic’s vocal fans, or her opponent’s frustratingly never-say-die play, Stearns seemed to deflate in relinquishing her opening service game. She briefly reignited the hope of her partisan fans by tying the set at 4-4, before allowing Vekic to close out the match in routine fashion.
After the match, Vekic said she is proud of the way she has “been able to adjust during the matches and adapt” to the hot and windy conditions.
“Coming to New York, I'm motivated more than ever,” she said. “Hopefully I can keep playing well, and who knows.”
WHAT IT MEANS: Vekic, a former world No. 19, is enjoying a resurgence following years of knee and foot injuries that have hampered her consistency. After finaling at Bad Homburg in June, Vekic surged to the final four at Wimbledon before dropping a heartbreaking third-set tiebreak to No. 7 seed Jasmine Paolini in the longest semifinal (2 hours, 51 minutes) in tournament history.
Before Vekic subsequently stepped on the Olympic courts at the Paris 2024 Games, she battled illness, pain in her ankle and arm (which had hampered her at Wimbledon), and a canceled flight which delayed her arrival. The cumulative effect was so draining that Vekic even questioned her place in her draw. One week later, however, Vekic earned a silver medal—her country’s first-ever medal in the tennis event —which she brought to New York.
Stearns, a 5-foot-8 American known for her easy demeanor and booming forehand, entered the match riding the momentum of a second-round upending of No. 12 seed Daria Kasatkina. Despite her near career-high ranking of No. 47 (since peaking at No. 43 in September 2023), the 2022 NCAA women’s champion has spoken openly of her ongoing difficulty this season to go for her shots while playing smart tennis. Her best Grand Slam result remains the Round of 16 in 2023 (l. to Marketa Vondrousova).
MATCH POINT: Can Vekic avenge her Olympic defeat in the upcoming Round of 16 rematch with gold medalist Zheng Qinwen of China? Vekic, who is aspiring a return to the Top 20, hopes her best moment is to come in her 10th appearance at the US Open, where her best previous result was a quarterfinal loss to Belinda Bencic in 2019.
