After coming off court against Sharapova, Vandeweghe claimed her opponent had tried to put her off while she served.
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“What I felt, what I experienced from her moving around in between my serving motion was not sportsmanlike, in my opinion”.
“I try to have a good time out there on the court, or at least fake it enough to where it looks like I’m having a good time out there”, she said.
The 23-year-old American approached the chair a couple of times, asking for intervention and even told the umpire, “if you’re scared to talk to Maria, I can do it” when she got no reaction from the official. “It is what it is”, she said, a meaningless line favoured by her Nike stable-mate Tiger Woods in similarly awkward situations. “I strongly disagreed with that”.
“I was pretty dominant in the first set and the beginning of the second, but things slipped away after that and I had to regroup”.
“They are both incredible champions”, Keys said.
Sharapova denied the accusation of moving on Vandeweghe’s serve, saying: “It is what it is, if she said it I can’t argue, that’s her words”. Sharapova also deflected questions about her grunting, which was at its most piercing and grew louder as the match went on.
“I didn’t do anything different”, said Sharapova. Sharapova said. “I have nothing to say”.
Williams earned her place in the last four with a powerful 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 win against close friend Victoria Azarenka to set up a repeat of the 2004 final, which Sharapova won as a 17-year-old.
LONDON – Until last week, Coco Vandeweghe had never been past the first round at Wimbledon – or beyond the third round at any Grand Slam.
“I don’t have anything to prove”, Williams said.
Vandeweghe took the fourth round contest to match point with an ace, then won it with an unreturned serve.
“I love playing in New York”, Vandeweghe said. “It was actually a bit surprising how easily I handled her balls sometimes, from what you see on TV, compared to what you experience live in person”. “I am relaxed and I think that is what has made my tennis better”. It was very entertaining.
“I don’t feel like I have any pressure going into this match”. Some great hitting from the Russian set up match point, and after Vandeweghe’s shot glided wide, she sealed up the set 6-2.
To reach the quarter-finals, Muguruza beat fifth seed and ex- world number one Caroline Wozniacki on Monday and also defeated 10th seed Angelique Kerber in the third round.
Advancing to the semifinals in the bottom half of the draw was 20th-seeded Garbine Muguruza of Spain, who beat Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland 7-5, 6-3 on Court 1.
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The defending champion appeared to aggressively shout “Towel” at the startled youngster when struggling to fend off big-serving South African Kevin Anderson.
