Coco Vandeweghe steamrolled her way into her first major semifinal at the Australian Open. In her mission to never allow Garbine Muguruza into the match, the 25 year old with powerhouse dominated with all her might to win in straight sets 6-3, 6-0 on Rod Laver Arena Tuesday. It clearly made her 6th appearance in the tournament one to remember as she moved into uncharted territory.
The two have met three times prior to their fourth with the American leading in the series. Muguruza has coasted to victories leading to the quarterfinal but entering the final eight leaves her against the recent giant killer who stunned world number one Angelique Kerber. Vandeweghe’s powerful shots and the German’s struggles to play at the high level were the keys to her victory and a place she had never reached at Melbourne. While she had luck against the Spaniard before, plenty has changed for the world number seven showing fatigue at times but still able to lock down the victories on court. With very few ranked players left in the ladies draw, it would be a good start for Vandeweghe or progressive run for a second title by Muguruza.
The Spaniard saw challenge from Vandeweghe in the opening game but handled the pressure during the break to hold serve. The American got her opening serve off to a good start making the challenges on the rallies difficult. She and Muguruza remained dead even through four and continued on serve. The fight for control occurred in the seventh with Vandeweghe attempting to capture the break point and get the lead for herself. Muguruza fought well to regain the chance for game point but lost it with a double fault. Vandeweghe won the 11-minute match after five break attempts getting out front against the Spaniard in hopes of consolidating it further.
She did so with plenty of offense that ruined Muguruza’s chance to get the all-important break. A low ball shot went flying back behind the baseline that ended the eighth to take a 5-3 lead. The seventh seed served to stay alive but her returns on Vandeweghe’s shots forced her to struggle against them. Using the weaknesses across court to her advantage, Vandeweghe reached set point ready to go a set up. Muguruza wasn’t ready to let her get away gaining back the chances on service that allowed her to win on an ace down the middle.
The trouble was still around for the Spaniard who had to play amazing defense on the service of the 25-year-old. She pushed the game to deuce but the actions from Vandeweghe got her on deuce putting the pressure on Muguruza in the tight finish. Gaining set point, Vandeweghe fired off the rally that ended with the seventh seed falling with an unforced error wide of the court.
The set went 56 minutes with Vandeweghe slightly better on winners despite having a low first serve percentage. She did win good on points that outdueled the Spaniard that included winning a break point out of nine chances that played a supporting role in the difference.
The second began with a break for Vandeweghe who felt that gaining a quick start to the set might pay off for the remainder of the match. She made it look possible with a 40-0 run in the second before Muguruza fired a winner down the line away from her. The action was quickly put the rest as she maintained her winning streak to three games.
The pressure became too much for Muguruza who began to topple with signs of frustration followed by a double fault that set Vandeweghe for a break point. The unseeded American powerhouse locked up her third break point to go up three straight games in 16 minutes. The onslaught continued on as Muguruza had no strong response against the hard hits of Vandeweghe taking another hold of serve with ferocity.
The Spaniard was completely falling apart that added a huge drop of confidence in her game. She put down a fourth double fault before watching the final rally in the fifth game end in the hands of Vandeweghe. What was clearly turning into another stunner was in the hands of the California native who was on the verge of getting to her first career major semifinal. She stayed calm and collected making sure to play every point that it took.
Muguruza watched as Vandeweghe conducted herself smoothly waiting for the inevitable to arrive. Instead of coasting to a win, Vandeweghe watched Muguruza make some good response on the rallies that allowed her to come back in the game. The American leveled back to deuce to stop the comeback of her opponent dead in its tracks. With an unforced error setting up match point, the 25-year-old got it done with a ten-shot rally ending in the net to close things in 1 hour and 22 minutes.
“I really wasn’t feeling all that great out there funny enough,” she told Sam Smith after the match. “I was really kind of nervous but I tried to play my best and stay within myself, keep my patterns and fought through a few break points on the serve, kept the pressure in the first set and then she finally cracked. Once I got rolling in the second it was like a freight train, you couldn’t stop it.”
She’ll hope to keep the speed of one in an all-American matchup against Venus Williams making it a three-player semifinal run from the United States. “It’s an honor to play a great champion like Venus,” she said. “It’s someone I grew up watching playing tennis and who I sought after for an autograph way back.”
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