Caroline Wozniacki couldn’t keep up with the pace of hard hitting at the Wimbledon Championships Monday. The former number one had a lot of trouble dealing with the powerful forehand from Coco Vandeweghe who pulled out the upset winning 7-6(4), 6-4 on Court Three at the All England Tennis Club.
The Dane carried a two-match series lead over the American but the recent success of the California native has her as a danger tournament killer. The 25-year-old hasn’t dropped a set on court so far as her grass court experience puts her in a clear comfort zone. Wozniacki hasn’t been fortunate to have similar turnouts as she nearly saw her run come to an end on Saturday. The world number six avoided going down in the second set against Anett Kontaveit to pull through a tiebreaker and win in three sets. Though she breathed a sigh of relief, it was obvious that she wouldn’t get a break against the hopeful American power hitter.
Wozniacki stayed tight with Vandeweghe to make her intentions clear of very little control to be given to her opponent. They went six games remaining on serve with the Dane leading the way each time. The two went neck and neck spanning every game in the opening set where a tiebreaker was no doubt going into action. They were once again in a very close race by the final two points went to the American who had net front presence that was beating Wozniacki at the worst moments. She took the tiebreaker after 57 minutes with plenty of good work on the first serve averaging 77 percent of shots in and 25 total winners.
While the American had the numbers of success, her path going forward wasn’t going to get less difficult for her. They began the second set with another tradeoff of victories that clearly set the pace. Vandeweghe had a lock on her service games and though she tried to break the former number one, her opponent was also strong on her side of the court after completing the sixth game of the set.
The seventh went to Vandeweghe who attempted to get the first break in the eighth with a chance for control at hand. She was forced to deuce by Wozniacki who saved her serve and fought with everything to avoid going down. It took just two breaks and great ball placement to beat the American and stay dead locked in a tie. The ninth saw Vandeweghe open a 40-0 run on the Dane completing the love service that helped her reach 5-4 and an opportunity for the match.
The American fired the returns at Wozniacki to reach two match points in the tenth where she made Wozniacki run after the ball to the point where a shot back went into the net ending the 1 hour and 35-minute battle. Vandeweghe’s dominance of the forehand gave her a sizable momentum that allowed her to dictate in the late stages despite the adversity that went along in a majority of their sets.
She’ll take all the good examples of her game and prepare for the quarterfinals facing Magdalena Rybarikova in the near future.
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