HSBC Championships 2026: From lucky loser to champion – Donna Vekic reflects on title win
• 3 minute read
On Sunday afternoon, Donna Vekic etched her name in the history books as the latest title-winner at the HSBC Championships.
She is the first player since 2023 to enter the draw of a WTA event as a lucky loser and finish the week as champion.
It’s a well-deserved achievement for a player who has reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon as recently as 2024, but ahead of the tournament, had dropped outside the top-75.
As someone who grew up playing and training in Great Britain, Vekic is a huge lover of the grass, and having the opportunity to play and compete for silverware at Queen’s has been a dream come true.
The Croatian star has been in incredible form this week, and her final performance in a 6-0, 7-6(6) win over Britain’s Emma Raducanu is one that will stay long in the memory.
“I was just really grateful that I had another opportunity to play,” said the new Queen’s champion. “I'm really happy with the way I played. With each match I played a little bit better, and today was pretty good.
“I knew obviously they (the crowd) were going to cheer for her, but the atmosphere was absolutely incredible. It was a full stadium, I really enjoyed it, even though they were cheering for her.”
Vekic couldn’t have asked for a better start to the match and looked in complete control after the opening set.
The Croatian was hitting her spots perfectly and putting the British No.1 under immense pressure – but sometimes that 6-0 can bring up it’s own challenges going into a second set.
Vekic had to ride the wave of Raducanu’s response in the second set and came back from 5-2 down to clinch the tie-break.
“You know, things can go either way in tennis so quickly. I was just like, okay, it doesn't matter. Because I didn't do much wrong. She was playing really well.
“It's like, okay, if she keeps playing like this for the rest of the match and wins, that's too good, well done. But I was just trying to focus on myself, focus on my side of the net, and keep working on the things that I had a plan before the match, and it worked.”
Vekic was full of praise for Raducanu in her press conference and was impressed with the British star’s performance.
“She's playing really good tennis. Obviously, she wouldn't be in the final if she wasn't. I think for her it's just the most important to stay healthy.
“The level of tennis is so high. It's so physically demanding. I think that's the biggest thing. You know, I think she likes to play in front of the home crowd.”
Vekic has recently been reunited with British tennis coach David Felgate, who coached her throughout her junior years training in London.
She had asked Felgate to re-join her team for this year’s grass court swing and the partnership has got off to a dream start.
“We worked together when I was 12-years-old,” she said. “He raised me as a player. He took me to Wimbledon for the first time.
“Like I said on court, I wouldn't even know what grass is without him. So it's a little bit of a full-circle moment winning this title with him here.
“I'm really happy for him, for me, for us, and all the work, not that we did now in the last two weeks, but the work that we did when I was 12.”
Vekic now heads straight to the airport to catch a flight to Belin for the WTA 500 in Germany next week. After that, she will have her eyes set on another deep run at Wimbledon, and with this title-winning confidence behind her, she could be an outside contender.
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