Stat of the Day: 3 – American women in the quarterfinals (Serena Williams, Keys, Vandeweghe), the most at Wimbledon since 2004.
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They all grew up watching the Williams sisters who – as their match on Centre Court showed – are still setting the standard.
When asked if she thought the umpire was too scared to talk to Sharapova about the issue, Vandeweghe replied: “Well I didn’t hear anything said”. There are only a few players that can hit the ball harder than CoCo, so our goal was to improve the consistency in her groundstrokes and promote the confidence that is needed to beat a higher rank (sic) player.
Sharapova’s habit of increasing the volume of her grunting every time she faced a pivotal point grated on the audience – but Vandeweghe was unruffled.
This was the 26th meeting between the sisters, the 12th at a Grand Slam and the sixth at Wimbledon.
The only American man left in action, Denis Kudla, played a later match against reigning USA Open champion Marin Cilic.
“I wasn’t taken aback by her whatsoever from a game standpoint”.
Coco Vandeweghe of the United States serves to Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic during their singles match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon, London, Monday July 6, 2015.
Safarova, having squandered break points earlier in the first set, struck for a 5-4 lead as Vandeweghe ballooned a backhand long.
She described her performance as her worst of the tournament so far, but there was still plenty to enthuse about, not least a formidable serve and some net-skimming drives to the baseline that almost knocked Safarova off her feet.
Vandeweghe took the fourth round contest to match point with an ace, then won it with an unreturned serve.
Keys, seeded 21, recovered from a set down to beat Belarussian qualifier Olga Govortsova 3-6 6-4 6-1.
The arrival of Keys and Vandeweghe in the quarters underlines the curious anarchy at work in the women’s game.
The 23-year-old faces either fourth seed Maria Sharapova, the 2004 champion, or unseeded Kazakhstani Zarina Diyas in Tuesday’s quarter-finals. It is the first time in 11 years that three American women have advanced to the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
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The New York native underlined her best-ever grand slam showing by refusing to buckle, but in the end was forced to bow to Sharapova’s superior major-tournament nous.
