Following a pair of tight two-setters, the first quarter-final of the 2015 edition of the Wimbledon Championships has been set, as 2004 champion Maria Sharapova and CoCo Vandeweghe will face off to determine who will advance to the semi-finals of the tournament. This will serve as the first ever career meeting between the two competitors and will certainly be an interesting, pressure-filled match, as one of these two will reach the semi-final round of the prestigious Grand Slam.

All looked well for Maria Sharapova as she stormed to a significant lead early in the match against Kazahkstan’s Zarina Diyas. Up 5-2 in the opener, Diyas showed some life and broke back before allowing the Russian to eventually close out the set. However, Diyas took an early lead in the second set but Sharapova eventually showed her trademark resiliency and reeled off four of the next five games to close out the match 6-4, 6-4.

Sharapova’s next opponent will be Coco Vandeweghe, who produced the shocker of the afternoon when she ousted the tournament’s sixth seed Lucie Safarova in straight sets. Vandeweghe won the match 7-6(1), 7-6(4) to add to her remarkable week that also included straight sets wins over No.11 seed Karolina Pliskova and No.22 seed Samantha Stosur.

“I think it’s been a tremendous effort for her to get to this stage,” Sharapova said. “Her game really revolves around that serve, and she’s been using it quite effectively in her previous four matches. “It’s always tricky playing against a really good server on grass, because a few points here and there can ultimately tell the difference in the winner and the loser. But I’m looking forward to that match-up.”

This is set to be the first time that Sharapova and Vadeweghe will cross paths on the professional tour. While the American is more than capable of pulling off the upset, particularly given that Sharapova has not historically done too well in the latter stages of the Championships, it may be a tough ask for her to complete yet another upset win. Sharapova shows trademark resliliency and will certainly make CoCo work for her win.

Source link