American Coco Vandeweghe stormed her way all the way from qualifying to the title finish at the Topshelf Open 2014 tournament on Saturday after defeating China’s Zheng Jie 6-2, 6-4. Vandeweghe had to fight hard in the qualifying rounds and posted upset wins along the way in the main draw – including the scalping of seventh seed Garbiñe Muguruza and No.8 seed Klara Koukalova. Zheng may not be seeded this week but she’s a capable grasscourt player, having reached the Wimbledon semifinals back in 2008.
“I usually take tournaments one match at a time, so early in the week I was just focused on being prepared for my first match in the qualification,” Vandeweghe said. “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.
“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.
“Once I got to the semifinals it was a little bit of a different feeling. It was a rematch for me – a week before in Birmingham I lost against Klara in three sets. I was so focused on beating her, that when I won that match against her it didn’t even dawn on me that I was in a final in the next round.”
“I was trying not to think about it being a final today. I got the first set and I thought to myself, ‘One set to the good, one more to go, try and get the early break now and keep the pressure on her.’
“I was really just thinking about it step by step, just like how I would play in any match.”
The American will have a short time to celebrate as she’s setting her sights at the Wimbledon 2014 tournament which begins on Monday. She will play against Muguruza in the opening round.
