American Coco Vanderweghe made waves during last year’s Wimbledon as she made her very first Grand Slam quarterfinal. The 23-year-old is seemingly in even better form heading into this year’s tournament, and will look to begin another deep run at the All England Club as she meets Kateryna Bondarenko in the first round.
World No. 30 Coco Vandeweghe couldn’t have asked for a much better build-up to this year’s Wimbledon. The 24-year-old American won the Ricoh Open title, claiming all five matches in straight sets. She also reached the semifinal of Birmingham, and defeated World No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska in the first round to earn the biggest win of her young career.
This impressive run shouldn’t be much of a surprise for anyone who’s seen what Vandeweghe’s been doing on grass over the last few years. Thanks to her excellent service game, Vandeweghe has gone 16-6 on the surface from 2014 to 2015. Her only career singles title heading into the year also came on grass.
Of course, Vandeweghe broke out at last year’s Wimbledon, as she reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time in her promising career. She defeated the likes of Samantha Stosur and Lucie Safarova en route to the last eight, where she eventually lost to Maria Sharapova.
Kateryna Bondarenko shouldn’t really be an enormous threat to Vandeweghe at Wimbledon. As her 2-4 record in the main draw of grass court tournaments over the past three years suggests, the current World No. 60 does not really fancy playing on grass.
Her record at Wimbledon throughout her career reinforces that belief. She has gone past the second round at the All England Club just once in eight attempts. This will also be her first appearance in the main draw of Wimbledon in four years.
But Bondarenko has shown much more interest during the current grass court season. She opted to go through qualifying in two tournaments, and while she failed to make the main draw at Birmingham, she did manage to reach the round of 16 at Eastbourne.
Including those qualifying matches, Bondarenko is 6-2 on grass this season. She is also 12-10 on the year in the main draw of tournaments, the first time she’s been above .500 since 2011. Bondarenko won her only meeting with Vandegweghe, but that was all the way back in 2006.
Writer’s Prediction
Vandeweghe (-280) continues her fine form and wins in straight sets.
