The United States’ 20th seed CoCo Vandeweghe has caused the shock of the US Open quarter-finals so far. She defeated top seed and World No.1 Karolina Pliskova 7-6, 6-3 in the opening match on the Arthur Ashe Stadium Court on Day 10 of the US Open.
The 25 year-old shrugged off the loss of an early break advantage in the first to win a tiebreak. She then raced out into a 5-2 lead in the second, before closing out the win.
Karolina Pliskova had faced few major problems in advancing to the quarter-finals. The Czech came into the event seeded No.1 with the same position in the rankings for the first time at a grand slam. Last year’s finalist struggled to contain the home player, who was backed by an enthusiastic crowd throughout.
Vandeweghe earned an early break but was immediately pegged back by Pliskova. A tiebreak ensued, and an uncharacteristic performance from Pliskova saw her commit five unforced errors to give her opponent the set.
It seemed as though normal service had resumed when the World No.1 broke in the first game of the second set. However, she was broken back straight away, and Vandeweghe then took the lead herself as errors continued to frustrate Pliskova.
Pliskova did manage to get back on serve, but her troubles on serve ensured it was a brief reprieve. She was broken yet again and this time it was a lead that Vandeweghe would not relinquish. The American fought off some brief nerves when serving for the match, eventually ending it when she forced Pliskova into a forehand error.
It is the second time this year that Vandeweghe has reached the semi-finals of a grand slam event. She reached the same stage at the Australian Open. In that event she then also defeated the then World No.1 Angelique Kerber en route to the last four.
Vandeweghe could face Venus Williams, the player who beat her in Melbourne, in the final as Williams is in the opposite section of the draw. Vandeweghe would first have to face the winner of the match between 15th seed Madison Keys and the unseeded Kaia Kanepi. If Keys were to win it would ensure that all four semi-finalists would be American, following the wins for Sloane Stephens, Venus Williams and Vandeweghe.
