Americans Vandeweghe and Keys Advance to Wimbledon Final Eight

July 6, 2015 | By Brian Coleman
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Americans Madison Keys and Coco Vandeweghe continued to impress on Monday, as each won their respective fourth-round match at the All-England Club to advance to the Wimbledon quarterfinals.

Vandeweghe ousted sixth-seed and French Open finalist Lucie Safarova 7-6(1), 7-6(4) to reach the final eight. While the match’s statistics were relatively even overall, Vandeweghe was tougher in the tiebreakers which allowed her to prevail.

“I didn’t really feel that good. I thought it was one of the worst matches that I’ve played the whole tournament so far,” said Vandeweghe. “[My] serve was kind of in and out. It was there when I needed it, especially towards the end, but I think it was more my court positioning early on. I thought I was too far back, letting her dictate instead of making her feel my presence.

But other than, I kept calm and cool. So I think that helped. When the tougher, longer rallies happened, I was on the winning end of it more times than I wasn’t. I think that was the difference.”

Vandeweghe will play former champion and fourth-seed Maria Sharapova, who cruised past Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas 6-4, 6-4.

Diyas seemed to be making a push in the second set, jumping out to a 3-1 advantage. But Sharapova regrouped, and won five of the final six games to wrap up the straight-set win and move into the quarterfinals.

“Obviously, being back in the situation of the fourth-round at Wimbledon, I tried to put all of my effort to get further,” said Sharapova, referring to her fourth-round loss to Angelique Kerber last year. “And as we all know, it will only get tougher from here.”

Tuesday’s quarterfinal will be the first ever meeting between Sharapova and Vandeweghe.

Also on Monday, the 21st-seeded Madison Keys came back from a set down to upend Olga Govortsova 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.

“I think I was a little bit nervous at the beginning,” said Keys of her slow start. “She was playing really well and I wasn’t play as smart as I wanted. But I sat down and gave myself a talking to. I started playing my shots and kind of got myself back in control.”

Keys has a tough task in the quarterfinals when she takes on 13th-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland. Radwanska hasn’t dropped a set all-tournament long, including in her 7-5, 6-4 win over 28th-seeded Jelena Jankovic in the fourth-round on Monday.

The other quarterfinal match will see the 15th-seeded Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland meet the 20th-seeded Spaniard Garbine Muguruza. Muguruza upset fifth-seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-4 on Monday.

“I went into the match very focused and prepared because I knew that she was going to try to make it a long and physical match against me,” said Muguruza. “So I think I used my opportunities of the short balls, good shots, the serve. I think I played really well. This helps me a lot against these kinds of defensive players.”

Bacsinszky beat Romanian Monica Niculescu 1-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Muguruza and Bacsinszky have met just once before: a 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 Muguruza win at this year’s Australian Open.

 


Brian Coleman
Senior Editor, Long Island Tennis Magazine
Brian Coleman is the Senior Editor for Long Island Tennis Magazine. He may be reached at brianc@usptennis.com.
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