A new box for Donna that’s bearing fruit?

After dropping down the rankings and going through some deep soul-searching, Donni arrives in Linz with a new face in her box: Biljana Veselinović. Is this the spark she was missing to fire up the Croatian machine again? Biljana Veselinović is a true craftswoman of the WTA Tour, renowned for her iron discipline and her rare ability to structure the game of power players, as she proved in the past by guiding Katie Boulter and Alizé Cornet to their best rankings. Under her guidance, Donna is learning to better channel her natural aggressiveness to become a more complete player and less predictable tactically.

Up against Katie Volynets, the test is a serious one. The American is a real defensive wall, very studious and in top physical shape, coming off a quarterfinal in Charleston. But Donni, despite a slight neck scare in qualifying, seems to have rediscovered a tactical framework under Biljana’s guidance, now willing to construct her points with more patience and composure.

The duel will be played on this very specific indoor clay in Linz this year. The ball is heavy, the bounce stays low, and drop shots tend to just die on the spot. These conditions are a godsend for Donna Vekić: they give her the time she needs to load up on her inside-out forehand and use her superior technical repertoire without getting rushed. While Katie Volynets risks getting bogged down in passive defense, lacking the natural power to really move this ‘dead’ ball, Donni has that innate weight of shot capable of piercing through the slowness of the court.

The 2026 stats back up this power advantage: with 0.29 aces per game and 67.2% of points won behind her first serve, the Croatian clearly dominates the serving battle compared to the American’s 59.8%. On top of that, her outrageous success in tie-breaks this season (75% versus just 33% for Katie) proves that Donni has rediscovered her warrior mindset. As long as her neck doesn’t betray her, like the scare we saw today against Shymanovich, her ability to dictate the rallies and her technical variety should logically allow her to dismantle the American wall.