Donna Vekic explains what happened after the warm-up vs Coco Gauff which caused big change

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Donna Vekic explained what she had to adjust to in order to beat Coco Gauff at the Olympic Games.

Vekic upset the second seeded Gauff to reach the quarter-finals and boost her chances of winning a medal for her country of Croatia.

Vekic is in great form after reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals and she carried that form onto the clay at Roland Garros.

A lethal combination of powerful groundstrokes from the baseline and delightful drop shots proved too much for Gauff to handle as Vekic claimed their first meeting.

What did Donna Vekic have to change after warming up to face Coco Gauff at the Olympics?

Vekic has now knocked out two former US Open champions after she dispatched Bianca Andreescu in round two before beating Gauff.

She started slow against the American as she found herself trailing 4-1 and 5-3 in the opening set, and even saved a set point.

But once she found her feet, Vekic was the dominant player and coasted to victory. Commenting on her slow start, the World number 13 cited a change of conditions from her warm up compared to the match itself.

“Honestly it took me some time to adjust to the conditions because when we warmed up the roof was closed, so it was completely different when we came out there,” she told Europsort.

“The ball was flying a bit more so it took me a couple of games but after that I played well. It was a tough match.”

Donna Vekic overcame Coco Gauff’s argument with the chair umpire to reach Olympic quarter-finals

Vekic took control of her match with Gauff but she had to maintain her composure following a long pause in play.

This came on the final point of the sixth game of the second set when Vekic hit a ball that was incorrectly called out over the baseline, so the line judge swiftly corrected their call to say the ball landed in.

Gauff hit the subsequent return into the net and the chair umpire awarded the point to Vekic, which gave her the game and a break of serve.

Gauff argued the initial incorrect call impacted her swing which caused her to make an error and argued that the point should be replayed, but the umpire did not agree.

This left the 20-year-old furious and even moved her to tears as she argued her case, but the umpire’s decision stood. The World number two did not win another game and her chance of winning Olympic singles gold in 2024 is now over.