August 3, 2019 - Donna Vekić has advanced to her fifth semi-final of the year on the WTA Tour!

Croatian tennis player Donna Vekić has made it to the semi-final of the WTA Tournament in San Jose (Silicon Valley Classic) by winning in two sets (7-5 and 6-0) against American Kristie Ahn in the quarter-final. Vekić won after an hour and 27 minutes of play, reports Gol.hr.

However, Vekić weakly opened her first match against the American player. She lost her opening first strike already in the second game, and after half an hour of play, she was behind 3-5. But for the rest of the hour, the Croatian player only put winning games up on the scoreboard.

Vekić saved one set point and then won nine games in a row for her fifth semi-final of the year. Thus far, Vekić has celebrated twice and lost twice in WTA semi-finals.

Vekić will play against Belarusian Arina Sabalenka in the semi-final on Sunday. This will be their fourth encounter, and Vekić has celebrated in all three of the meetings thus far. 

On the other side of the coast in Washington D.C., Croatian tennis player Marin Čilić failed to reach the semi-final of the Washington Open. Marin lost to Russian Danil Medvedev 6-4, 7-6 (7) in the quarter-final after an hour and 35 minutes of play, reports Gol.hr.

This was the first match between the 30-year-old Čilć and Medvedev, who is seven years younger than the Croatian player and is currently ranked 10th in the ATP rankings.

Čilić played a great match against Medvedev, but in crucial moments he still failed to play his best and remained without the victory. 

Throughout the match, Medvedev served superbly, and Čilić failed to secure a single break point, while the Russian had only two chances in the fifth game of the first set and used the second for the only break in the match.

In the tie-break of the second set, both players scored points on their first strike at 8-7 for Medvedev, though Čilić ultimately sent the ball out to lose the match.

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After two tiebreaks against Romanian player Marius Copil, Marin Čilić easily overcame the young Canadian sensation Felix Auger Aliassime and advanced to the quarter-final of the challenging ATP 500 tournament in Washington D.C. - the Washington Open. 

It is only the third time in this otherwise poor season that Marin Čilić has connected two victories in the same tournament. Thus, the Australian Open and Madrid join the Washington Open, where Čilić has been a semi-finalist in his last two appearances long ago (2015 and 2010), reports 24 Sata on August 2, 2019. 

We can only hope this is an indication of better days for the Croatian tennis star, who delighted his fans by wearing a smile across his face for the first time in a long time.

After two tiebreaks against Marius Copil, Čilić had no problem advancing over the young Canadian Felix Auger Aliassime (6-3, 6-4), who has been a sensation in the tennis world this year. Recall, Auger Aliassime advanced to 21st on the ATP ranking, almost reaching Čilić! He is currently the 22nd best in the world, and according to the ranking, the biggest win of Croatia’s second-best tennis player this year. So far, Čilić also defeated Fernando Verdasco in Melbourne, then the 28th best player in the world.

Furthermore, this only Čilić’s second quarterfinal in 2019. Recall, he had to give up his first in Madrid due to food poisoning.

Čilić and Auger Aliassime met for the first time in the round of 16 on Thursday in Washington, D.C. Čilić already broke his opponent in the first game of the match, though he went on to save three break points from the 18-year-old Canadian.

Auger Aliassime was more dangerous in the second set where he won two break points and saved a game point by Čilić.

However, Čilić was calm and consistent, though he achieved a weak 55 percent on his first serve and also racked up nine aces less than against Copil (4-13). 

If better days are indeed ahead for Čilić will be tested already in the quarter-final against Daniil Medvedev, a player he has yet to meet. The Russian topped Frances Tiafoe (6-2, 7-5) in the round of 16. 

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

The 22-year-old Osijek tennis player shined in the US capital this week and made the best jump yet in the WTA rankings.