American Grass Sweep of Pre-Wimbledon Titles for Keys, Vandeweghe
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Americans CoCo Vandeweghe and Madison Keys completed dream weeks to each win their first career titles, days before play kicks off at the All England Club in Wimbledon.
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Vandeweghe, a qualifier at the Topshelf Open in Holland, topped two seeds in the main draw en route to defeating China’s unseeded Jie Zheng 6-2, 6-4 in the final.
Key was the big American’s serve, delivering 81 aces over seven main draw matches.
“I had basically flown in the day before the qualification, so I didn’t have any practice on the courts here, or anything like that,” Vandeweghe said. “Once I took care of that first match I just went from there, and I got more and more comfortable on the courts. I played a ton of points and games, and a lot of long matches and three-setters as well.”
The Californian received congratulations from another Californian after the match.
“My favorite player was Lindsay Davenport,” she said. “She’s from California and has been a great friend and mentor to me. When I was 16 we got to hit together in Miami, and to be on the same court and actually hit with your idol is just an unreal feeling.”
At Wimbledon in the first round she will meet a player she defeated this week, No. 27 seed Garbine Murguruza.
Vandeweghe improved to 1-1 in career finals, losing to Serena Williams in the 2012 Stanford final.
Keys, another American youngster in the big-serving mold, unleashed 17 aces to edge No. 5 seed Angie Kerber 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in the final of the Aegon International in Eastbourne, Great Britain.
The unseeded Keys was also big off the ground, hitting 60 winners over the three sets. She converted on only two of 11 break point opportunities, but took care of points at the net to capture her first title in her first career final.
The 19-year-old Keys is projected to crack the Top 30 rankings, and is the first teenager to win a WTA Premier-level title since Caroline Wozniacki won New Haven in 2009.
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