Serena Defeats Vandeweghe for Second Consecutive Bank of the West Classic Title
Serena Williams defeated Coco Vandeweghe, 7-5, 6-1 on Sunday afternoon, defending her singles title at the Bank of the West Classic. Ranked number four in the world, Serena became the first repeat Bank of the West Classic champion since Kim Clijsters won the title back-to-back in 2005 and 2006. Sunday’s victory was even more special, considering Serena captured her fifth career Wimbledon title and 14th major championship overall just eight days ago.
Collecting the 43rd singles title of her career, Serena joined Victoria Azarenka and Sara Errani as the only players to win four WTA singles titles so far this year.
After only dropping 10 games combined during the week at the Bank of the West Classic, Williams encountered the most resistance from Vandeweghe, who entered the main draw as a lucky loser in the qualifying round. Appearing in her first career singles final, the 20-year-old Vandeweghe was the first lucky loser to advance to a WTA final since Melinda Czink’s runner-up finish at Canberra in 2007. Ranked 120th entering the tourney, Vandeweghe caught everyone’s attention by knocking off the fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic and fifth-seeded Yanina Wickmayer en route to the final.
Fans in attendance witnessed the first all-American singles final at any WTA event since Serena faced her sister Venus at the WTA Championships in November 2009. It was also the most recent all-American WTA singles final to be played in the U.S. since Serena battled Lindsay Davenport at Los Angeles in 2004.
Serena polished off Sunday’s match in just one hour and 27 minutes, her longest contest of the week. Williams’ trademark serve proved to be a key weapon, resulting in nine aces and connecting on 67 percent of her first serves. The performance was much improved compared to yesterday’s semifinal, in which Williams totaled more double faults (four) than aces (three) and connected on only 38 percent of her first serves.
