Begu downs Vekic in Tashkent final
Croatian teenager Donna Vekic's fairytale run through the Tashkent Open in Uzbekistan ended with a straight-sets defeat to Irina-Camelia Begu in the final.
Vekic enjoyed her first win over a player in the top 100 of the world rankings when she beat fourth seed Magdalena Rybarikova in the first round.
Two more followed as the 16-year-old accounted for Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino and sixth seed Bojana Jovanovski, before she then beat world number 133 Eva Birnerova in the last four.
But there was to be no final celebration as Romanian Begu, ranked almost 100 places higher than Vekic at number 87 in the world, powered to a 6-4 6-4 win.
A solitary break of serve was enough to seal the first set for the 22-year-old, and she broke twice more to take the second and wrap up victory in one hour and 20 minutes.
© 2012 The Press Association
