Donna Vekic stamped her red-hot start to 2023 with her first title of the season, defeating world number five Caroline Garcia 6-4 3-6 7-5 in the Monterrey Open final on Sunday.

Vekic, 26, has now won 14 of her past 16 matches dating back to New Year's Eve, and she dropped only two sets through her five matches in Mexico this week. She also made the 2023 Australian Open quarter-finals, losing to eventual winner Aryna Sabalenka.

The Croatian grabbed the early break to control the first frame, and when serving for the set, Vekic showed grit to fight back from a 40-0 deficit and save three break points en route to securing the opener.

She kept her momentum rolling into the second, breaking and consolidating to jump ahead 2-0, but the response from France's Garcia showed why she was the WTA Finals champion last season, rattling off five games in a row.

But Vekic showed no signs of slowing down, and Garcia was forced to save eight break points to keep the third set level, before the dam finally broke at 6-5 to prevent a tiebreaker.

It was the fourth title of Vekic's career, but only her second since 2017, having snapped a four-year drought at the 2021 Courmayeur Ladies Open.

Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk lifted her first WTA singles trophy after defeating Russia's Varvara Gracheva 6-3 7-5 in Sunday's ATX Open final.

Kostyuk only needed to beat one seeded opponent en route to the title, eliminating fourth seed Danielle Collins in the semi-final to set up a showdown against the 22-year-old ranked 88th in the world.

In an incredibly back-and-forth first set, eight of the nine games went against serve, including five consecutive breaks to begin the match, with the 20-year-old Kostyuk's lone hold good enough to take the lead.

With both players competing in their first final at this level, the nerves were apparent, as they combined for eight double faults in the opening set and another six in the second.

It was Gracheva pulling ahead 5-3 as she tried to force a decider, but after saving a set point, Kostyuk broke back to make it 5-5, and rattled off the final four games of the match to claim the title.

Coming into the tournament ranked 52nd in the world, Kostyuk will surpass her career-best mark of 45th when the next set of rankings are released.

Marta Kostyuk is through to her first WTA singles decider after defeating Danielle Collins 6-4 6-3 in Saturday's ATX Open semi-final.

Ukraine's Kostyuk prevailed in a closely contested battle against the highest seed remaining in the field, taking the only break of the first set after saving four Collins break points the game prior.

The two women traded breaks to begin the second set, but the 20-year-old Kostyuk was too strong down the stretch, winning five of the final six games.

It will also be the first WTA-level final for her opponent, with unseeded 22-year-old Russian Varvara Gracheva overcoming American Katie Volynets 6-4 5-7 6-4.

The two-and-a-half-hour clash was tight all the way through, with Gracheva only narrowly edging the total point count 101-94.

Meanwhile, down south of the border at the Monterrey Open, world number five Caroline Garcia won her semi-final against Elise Mertens 6-3 6-4.

The reigning WTA Finals champion will have a chance to collect the 12th singles title of her career, and her first of the season, when she meets Croatia's Donna Vekic in the final.

Vekic, the third seed, emerged the 7-5 6-2 victor against China's Zhu Lin, continuing a red-hot run of form that has seen her win 13 of her past 15 matches dating back to New Year's Eve.

Caroline Garcia is now three wins away from her first title of 2023 after defeating Nuria Parrizas-Diaz 6-3 6-2 in Thursday's second round of the Monterrey Open.

France's Garcia, the world number five and top overall seed, needed just 63 minutes to see off her Spanish challenger. She controlled the contest with her serve, taking the ace count eight to two while winning 75 per cent of her total service points (33-of-44).

She will now face Egypt's Mayar Sherif in the quarter-final after the seventh seed survived a tough 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 test from China's Wang Xinyu.

Fourth seed Elise Mertens emerged the 6-3 3-6 6-2 victor against Romania's Elena-Gabriela Ruse, while rising 22-year-old Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto prevailed 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-3) against Germany's Tatjana Maria.

North of the border in Austin's ATX Open, Danielle Collins ripped off a 67-minute 6-1 6-1 drubbing of Caty McNally to advance to the quarter-final.

Collins will meet Russia's Anna Kalinskaya next after the 24-year-old's convincing 6-3 6-1 victory over veteran CoCo Vandeweghe.

Eighth seed Marta Kostyuk is one of only three seeded competitors remaining after storming home in a 6-3 3-6 6-0 battle with Madison Brengle, and Germany's Anna-Lena Friedsam won the longest match of the day in a 7-5 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (10-8) three-hour war of attrition against 18-year-old Russian Erika Andreeva.

Fifth seed Sloane Stephens moved into the quarter-finals of the ATX Open as one of only three seeds remaining after a straight-sets win over Heather Watson on Wednesday.

The 29-year-old American triumphed 6-4 6-4 over Watson in one hour and 27 minutes in Austin.

The 2017 US Open champion firmed into favouritism in Austin with third seed Anastasia Potapova knocked out by USA's Katie Volynets in a thrilling three-set encounter.

Volynets came from a set down and also 5-0 down in the third frame, needing two hours and 19 minutes to get past Potapova, winning 5-7 6-2 7-5.

Potapova's exit follows top seed Magda Linette's first-round defeat, while second seed Zhang Shuai withdrew due to illness on Tuesday.

Stephens has seven career WTA titles to her name, the last coming in February last year at the Abierto Zapopan in Mexico.

Varvara Gracheva defeated Anna Blinkova 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-1, while American wild card and Texas local Peyton Stearns beat Mirjam Bjorklund 6-3 7-5.

At the Monterrey Open in Mexico, third seed Donna Vekic progressed to the quarter-finals with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Emma Navarro.

Fifth seed Zhu Lin accounted for Rebecca Marino in three sets, while Ysaline Bonaventure also needed three frames to beat Kamilla Rakhimova.

Top seed and 2023 Australian Open semi-finalist Magda Linette was bundled out of the ATX Open in the first round on Tuesday after a three-set loss to Varvara Gracheva.

Gracheva, ranked 88th in the world, needed two hours and 31 minutes to get past Linette 6-3 4-6 6-4 in Austin.

The Pole had led 2-0 in the third set before Gracheva hit back with three breaks in the final frame to run away with a shock victory.

Linette's early exit followed that of second seed Zhang Shuai who withdrew from the tournament on Tuesday due to illness.

Fifth seed Sloane Stephens had no such troubles, progressing into the second round with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Taylor Townsend.

Fourth seed Danielle Collins won 6-7 (7-9) 6-2 6-4 over Magdalena Frech in two hours and 32 minutes, while third seed Anastasia Potapova eased past Elizabeth Mandlik 6-2 6-0.

Top seed Caroline Garcia cruised into the second round at the Monterrey Open in Mexico on Tuesday, winning 6-3 6-4 over Slovenia's Kaja Juvan.

Third seed Donna Vekic survived an early scare to win by virtue of a walkover at 2-6 5-0 against Lesia Tsurenko who retired for the second straight tournament.

Fourth seed Elise Mertens was too strong for Diana Shnaider 6-0 6-4, while seeds Mayar Sherif and Elisabetta Cocciaretto also progressed.

Sixth seed Katerina Siniakova, who made last week's Mexican Open semi-finals, was eliminated after a controversial call on match point in a third-set tie-break, losing to Kamilla Rakhimova 7-6 (8-6) 2-6 7-6 (7-5).

Last week's Mexican Open champion Camila Giorgi was knocked out 6-4 7-5 by Romanian qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse.

Second seed Marie Bouzkova suffered a shock first-round exit at the Monterrey Open losing in straight sets to world number 100 Anna Karolina Schmiedlova on Monday.

The Slovakian triumphed 6-4 6-2 in one hour and 46 minutes over the Czech who was a runner-up at this event in 2020.

Schmiedlova will take on American qualifier Caroline Dolehide in the second round after she knocked off Jule Niemeier 6-1 6-0.

Dolehide's dominance was impressive given she is ranked 206th in the world compared to 2022 Wimbledon quarter-finalist Niemeier at 69th.

Fifth seed Zhu Lin got past Hungary's Anna Bondar 6-4 7-6 (7-4), setting up a second-round clash with Canada's Rebecca Marino after she beat local wildcard Fernanda Contreras Gomez 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-4).

Belgium's Ysaline Bonaventure triumphed in two hours and 20 minutes over Greek qualifier Despina Papamichail 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 6-1.

British qualifier Heather Watson toppled Danka Kovinic 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 in the first round of the ATX Open in Austin.

Seventh seed Alycia Parks was eliminated 6-4 4-6 6-4 by Swedish wild card Mirjam Bjorklund.

Novak Djokovic is amassing such a dossier of evidence that no sober judge would dispute his claims, but debate still rages as to who is the greatest men's tennis player of all time.

The 35-year-old has now racked up 378 weeks at number one on the singles rankings, not only improving his record among the men but also this week going past Steffi Graf, the leader on the women's tour.

Djokovic has won 10 of the last 16 grand slams he has contested, all since turning 30, and has moved level with Rafael Nadal on 22 singles majors, the most ever captured by a man.

His stockpiling of Masters 1000 titles is bordering on being greedy, with a record 38 tucked away, and although he turns 36 in May there is no sign of Djokovic slowing down.

Tommy Haas snatched three wins from nine encounters with Djokovic, while the Serbian was going up through the gears early in his career.

Haas told Stats Perform he sees Djokovic as a player who wants to "end that debate" over who is the greatest, but there are good grounds to reason the man from Belgrade has already done enough.

Djokovic's compelling case

With plenty of miles left in his legs, Djokovic has already reached 33 grand slam finals (W22 L11), the most by any man. It puts him level with Serena Williams (W23 L10) and one behind Chris Evert (W18 L16), who is perhaps a surprising leader in this field.

Given his form in the past 12 months, it would be astonishing if Djokovic does not reach more slam finals this year.

He has also won 38 Masters titles – the next rung down from the grand slams – and is not just the only singles player to have won every one of these nine tournaments, he has won each one at least twice.

Djokovic's six end-of-season ATP Finals titles puts him level with Federer.

Adding together grand slams, ATP Finals crowns and Masters 1000 wins, Djokovic has 66 of these so-called 'Big Titles', seven more than Nadal, who sits second on the list. It bears pointing out the Masters events only began in 1990, so this puts players of the modern era at an advantage, but the domination of these events by the likes of Djokovic, Nadal and Federer mirrors their unprecedented grand slam supremacy.

Djokovic has an 83.5 per cent career win-loss record (W 1,043, L 206), the best of all players with at least 200 matches on tour during the Open Era (since 1968).

In the slams, his win-loss record of 341-47 gives Djokovic an 87.9 per cent winning record, just a shade behind Nadal's 88 per cent, and ahead of Federer (86 per cent).

Djokovic is rapidly closing in on overtaking Nadal's win percentage, having powered through his last 14 matches at the majors, triumphing at Wimbledon and the Australian Open.

These winning percentages at the slams by the Big Three are not the absolute highest of all time, but considering Djokovic, Nadal and Federer have regularly had to play one another over the past two decades, that is easily explained.

Only Bjorn Borg (71.1 per cent) has a higher win percentage against top-10 players than Djokovic's 69.4 per cent, but Borg's career was relatively brief, stepping off the tour in his mid-20s, with Djokovic a model of sustained excellence.

Djokovic is playing in Dubai this week, seeking more trophy success.

The expert's view

"He's the ultimate competitive warrior out there," says Tommy Haas. "He doesn't leave a stone unturned, does everything that he possibly can to be the best that he can be."

Haas is now tournament director at the Indian Wells Masters – aka the BNP Paribas Open – and he had better results than most against Djokovic, scoring wins on grass in Halle and Wimbledon in 2009 before repeating the trick on hard court in Miami four years later.

Djokovic, it can be argued, is a better player at 35 than he was at 25, and he is certainly more dominant. The man who feeds off his inner "wolf energy" has lost none of his bite.

"He's spoken about it himself many times, the sort of upbringing that he had, the experiences that he had to go through just to put so much grit in him, so much fire and fighting power. And you see it. The guy is an absolute beast out there," Haas said.

"There's no doubt in my mind that in his mind he wants to become the greatest of all time and win the most slams and end that debate and I think that's that's what he's looking to do.

"We're getting a little bit ahead of ourselves now but let's just say he does have the most slams. He's won every Masters series there is, maybe the most of all of them as well. Longest number one, most slams and then I think there is no room to argue."

Is winning enough to define greatness?

Yes. It has to be. In hand-to-hand combat, whether in war or something as relatively frivolous at tennis, it's all about getting the better of the enemy. Then it's about continuing to do so, and if it's easy on the eye, all well and good.

Roger Federer played the most sumptuous tennis that made him a bigger draw than anyone, and the Swiss great was also a sensational winner to boot, and a charmer, but Djokovic is picking off his records one by one.

Does this make Djokovic the most popular tennis player of all time? No, he rarely exhibits the warmth of personality that Federer brought, the crowd-pleasing flourishes are in shorter supply, and he brings some of the bad press and occasional crowd antipathy on himself.

But winning is the priority for Djokovic, and nobody does it better.

Haas says: "Really, can you say does he have the prettiest game or the best shot selection or this and that? Without Roger and without Rafa he would have been pushed to become that good of a player? Maybe not. And you have to always look at every generation pushing each other and all that stuff.

"And the debates can go on and on. Bjorn Borg retired when he was 26 years old, he won 11 slams. What if he would have played 10 more years? Yeah, he probably could have had 20."

But Djokovic has 22 and is hurtling towards Margaret Court's 24 slams, the most by a woman. There is no doubt he believes he can go beyond that, and keep going.

Shingo Kunieda won 28 wheelchair singles majors, and Djokovic might even get up towards that number.

For now, the number that matters is number one. Whether you like him or not, the man they call Nole is hurtling into history as the champion supreme.

Camila Giorgi claimed her first WTA title since 2021 as she overcame Swedish qualifier Rebecca Peterson in three sets to secure the Merida Open crown on Sunday.

World number 68 Giorgi triumphed 7-6 (7-3) 1-6 6-2 over Peterson in a see-sawing decider that lasted two hours and 25 minutes in Mexico.

Giorgi seemed in strife when she trailed 2-0 in the third set after losing a lopsided second frame, but hit back emphatically by reeling off the final six games.

The victory was Giorgi's fourth WTA title and first since winning the Canadian Open in 2021, helping her return to the top-50 when the next rankings are released on Monday.

The Italian had qualified for her 10th career WTA final without dropping a set, including a 6-0 6-0 double bagel rout of second seed Sloane Stephens in the quarter-finals.

Peterson had enjoyed a resurgent tournament after an injury-hit 2022 season, but was unable to claim her first WTA title since 2019.

Emma Raducanu has withdrawn from the inaugural Austin Open after contracting tonsillitis.

The 20-year-old has not played since her defeat in the Australian Open to Coco Gauff in January.

The Briton shot to tennis stardom with victory at the 2021 US Open, setting a record for the fewest majors played (two) before winning a title.

But a frustrating run of injuries and poor form across 2022, which also included numerous coaching changes, has seen her plummet to number 81 in the WTA Rankings and fail to reach the third round of a slam since her famous triumph.

"I'm sorry to have to withdraw from the ATX Open," Raducanu said on Sunday,

"I am currently suffering from tonsillitis and am unable to compete this week. Thank you to the tournament for the great hospitality here in Austin."

Italian Camila Giorgi knocked out another seed on her way to clinching a spot in the Merida Open final where she will face Sweden's Rebecca Peterson.

Giorgi triumphed 7-5 7-6 (7-2) over fourth seed Katerina Siniakova in two hours and 12 minutes in Saturday's semi-final in Akron.

The Italian world number 68 had routed second seed Sloane Stephens 6-0 6-0 on Friday to earn her spot in the last four.

Swedish qualifier Peterson secured her final berth with a 6-2 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 over American Caty McNally.

The topsy-turvy match lasted almost three hours, with Peterson fighting back from 4-0 down in the third set by winning the final six games for victory.

Barbora Krejcikova stunned Iga Swiatek to win the Dubai Tennis Championships, cruising past the world number one in straight sets to clinch her first WTA 1000 title. 

By following up victories over Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula with a ruthless 6-4 6-2 dismantling of Swiatek, Krejcikova became just the fifth woman to beat each of the world's top three players at a single tournament in the last 40 years.

Krejcikova entered Saturday's meeting as the only player to have beaten Swiatek in her eight hard-court finals at tour level, having done so at the Ostrava Open last October.

The Czech looked to be drawing on that experience as she made a flying start, breaking in the opening game through a well-struck backhand. 

Though Swiatek responded with a break of her own in the sixth game, a rare double fault from the Pole saw the momentum swing Krejcikova's way.

Another excellent backhand return gave Krejcikova the opening set's decisive break, after which a visibly frustrated Swiatek was handed a time violation by the umpire.

Things did not get much better from there for the three-time grand slam winner, with a series of masterful returns helping Krejcikova seal two dominant breaks before wrapping things up.

Having clinched a highly impressive win within 91 minutes, Krejcikova told Amazon Prime Video: "It means a lot. 

"It was a great week for me, I was improving with every single game and today, I think I showed my best. 

"I really have to admire Iga for what she is doing. To me, she is a big inspiration and she motivates me every day. It was a great final and I'm definitely happy with the result."

Barbora Krejcikova will play Iga Swiatek for the Dubai Tennis Championships title after settling a see-saw semi-final against Jessica Pegula in ruthless fashion.

Having seen Swiatek brush aside Coco Gauff in straight sets in the first match of the day, Krejcikova would have been confident of doing likewise after taking the opener against Pegula.

Third seed Pegula battled back to take the second set, though, and the American appeared to have momentum on her side, only to bow out in a one-sided decider, losing 6-1 5-7 6-0 for her first defeat to Krejcikova.

The pair's only prior meeting had been a straight-sets win for Pegula at the Australian Open earlier this year.

Pegula's sole other tournament since Melbourne had ended in similar circumstances to this one, with a 6-3 6-0 crushing at the hands of Swiatek in the final of last week's Qatar Open. The Pole is who Krejcikova must play next.

Krejcikova is the first player since Svetlana Kuznetsova in Cincinnati in 2019 to beat two top-three opponents at the same WTA 1000 tournament.

Yet after seeing off number two Aryna Sabalenka in the quarter-finals and number three Pegula in the semis, she faces the world number one in the final.

Swiatek has had a rather more straightforward path, granted a walkover in the last eight and then, on Friday, playing Gauff, who she continues to dominate.

The Pole is now 6-0 across her career against Gauff, winning all of those matches in straight sets.

Gauff at least made Swiatek work a little harder than she has in many recent matches, going down 6-4 6-2 – the first match since Melbourne in which the number one has not won a set either 6-0 or 6-1, piling up the 'bagels' and 'breadsticks'.

Swiatek is 2-1 against Krejcikova for her career, although the Czech won their most recent meeting and their only encounter in a final in Ostrava last year.

Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka lost for the first time in 14 matches, and Coco Gauff set up a semi-final clash with Iga Swiatek at the Dubai Tennis Championships on Thursday.

Sabalenka fought back from a set down to end the title defence of Jelena Ostapenko a day earlier, but she came up short against Barbora Krejcikova as her Czech opponent overcame a tough first set to run out a 0-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-1 victor.

Sabalenka, playing in her first event since claiming a maiden grand slam title in Melbourne, romped into the lead by breaking Krejcikova's serve three times to go a set ahead.

But the world number two was pegged back in the second as Krejcikova battled to force a tie-break, which she dominated to level the match.

Krejcikova then completed the shock victory in style, breaking the second seed twice in the final set before clinching the win on her third match point to end Sabalenka's run of 13 straight triumphs.

Karolina Muchova's withdrawal due to an abdominal injury means it is Jessica Pegula who will face Krejcikova in the semi-finals on Friday.

After Swiatek reached the final four by virtue of Karolina Pliskova pulling out because of an illness, Gauff set up a sixth meeting with the world number one by beating Madison Keys 6-2 7-5.

In those five previous clashes between the pair, Gauff is yet to win a set.

But after cruising past Keys, doing so by converting four of five break points and winning 90 per cent of her service games, Gauff is confident of improving her dismal record against Swiatek on Friday.

"All five times, I did something wrong," Gauff said. "To be honest, she's playing great tennis and there's a reason she's world number one. 

"Tomorrow I have no pressure. I just have to play my game. I definitely think I've gotten better since the last time I played her.

"Ranking is just a number at the end of the day. You just have to step on the court believing you can win, and that's what I'm going to do tomorrow."