Vandeweghe Powers Into Australian Open Semifinals

Will Play Venus Williams For A Spot In The Final

January 24, 2017 | By New York Tennis Magazine Staff

The surprise run of American Coco Vandeweghe continued on Tuesday as the 35th ranked New York City-born Vandeweghe dismantled seventh-seed Garbine Muguruza 6-4, 6-0 to reach the Australian Open semifinals.

“It’s amazing to be in a semifinal,” said Vandweghe. “But, you know, not satisfying. I want to keep going, keep playing. There’s more things to do out on a tennis court that I’m hoping to achieve.”

Following up on her stunning straight-sets win over world number one and defending champion Angelique Kerber in the previous round, Vandeweghe came out slugging in Tuesday’s quarterfinal. She won the only break point of the opening set to build a 4-3 advantage, and she fired five aces and converted on 81 percent of her first serve points to win the first set.

The second set was all Vandeweghe. She broke Muguruza in the opening game and never looked back, bageling Muguruza in less than a half hour, hitting 12 winners and winning 100 percent of the points on her first serve.

In the semifinals, Vandeweghe will square off with fellow American Venus Williams, who became the oldest player to reach an Australian Open semifinal with a 6-3, 7-6(3) victory over Anastasia Pavyluchenkova.

“It’s a wonderful to be here to start the year out with this,” said Venus. “I want to go further. I’m not happy just with this, but I’m just happy to be in the position to go further.”

Venus won the only previous match between these two, a straight-sets victory in Rome last year.

“It’s a dream to play someone you grew up watching. To play an unbelievable player, future Hall of Famer in Venus, and to be on the court with her, I’ve only experienced it one time before,” said Vandeweghe. “To definitely have two Americans against each other in the semifinal I think is pretty cool.”

The other Melbourne semifinal will be decided later tonight. Serena Williams will take on Johanna Konta, while Karolina Pliskova takes in Mirjana Lucic-Baroni. 


New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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