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Donna Vekic's coach Pam Shriver had a lighthearted reaction to her name being misspelled in a graphic during the Croat's latest outing at the San Diego Open.
Vekic dispatched Katherine Hui 7-5, 6-2 in the first round on Wednesday (February 28). The World No. 28 won 67% of the points from her first serve as compared to her opponent's 34%, and converted a whopping 70% of her 10 break point chances.
Shriver, who has coached Vekic since 2022, was in the stands during the Croat's match against Hui. When the camera panned to the 61-year-old American, the graphic on the screen spelled her surname incorrectly as 'Schriver'.
Shriver, who was also sporting a beanie with the Baltimore Orioles logo, didn't seem to mind the spelling mistake too much. After the match, she took to X (formerly Twitter) and tweeted that she was glad to see at least Vekic's name being spelled correctly in the graphic. She also gave a shout-out to the MLB team, of which she is a minority owner.
"I am worst speller on the planet, so no judgment here. I am happy graphics got @DonnaVekic name correct. Btw Go @Orioles [Baltimore Orioles] and go DV [Donna Vekic]!!", Pam Shriver tweeted.
Shriver, a Baltimore native, is a 21-time women's doubles Major winner. Under her tutelage, Vekic reached the quarter-final of the 2023 Australian Open (her joint-best finish at a Major) and won the Monterrey Open last year.
Donna Vekic set to face a qualifier in the second round of the 2024 San Diego Open
Donna Vekic's next task is a second-round clash against qualifier Marina Stakusic. The Canadian, ranked 283rd in the world, saw off Maria Timofeeva (walkover) and Elsa Jacquemot in the qualifiers to set up a first-round date with Marina Melnikova.
Stakusic saw off the Russian's challenge, winning the match in three sets to book a place in the second round. The 19-year-old has never faced Vekic on the Tour and has largely plied her trade on the ITF circuit.
Meanwhile, Vekic, seeded seventh in the competition, has had a mixed 2024 so far. A semi-final appearance at the Linz Open was sandwiched between first-round exits at the Australian Open and the WTA 1000 in Qatar.
The 27-year-old then caused a major upset at the Dubai Tennis Championships, beating World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in three sets in the second round. However, her run was cut short in the following round by Romania's Sorana Cirstea.
Vekic will now hope to make it to the third round of the San Diego Open — a tournament where she was the losing finalist in 2022 — by beating Stakusic. The winner of their match will face either Katie Boulter or second seed Beatriz Haddad Maia in the next round.
