Maria Sharapova reaches Wimbledon semi-finals with win over Coco Vandeweghe
Tuesday 7 July 2015 22:23, UK
Maria Sharapova battled into her first Wimbledon semi-final since 2011 with a 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 6-2 victory over American Coco Vandeweghe on Tuesday.
After a relatively untroubled first set on Centre Court, fourth seed Sharapova lost a hugely entertaining second as the two players slugged it out.
Vandeweghe, the only unseeded player in the last eight, showed plenty of grit, not least when breaking as Sharapova served for the match at 5-4 in the second set, whipping up the fans on the show court in the process.
Sharapova then displayed her own fighting spirit when, despite again struggling with her serve, she twice saved set point before Vandeweghe's fearless deep hitting earned her the tie-break and dreams of an upset victory.
In the final set Sharapova quickly seemed to take control with a break in the second game to race to a 3-0 lead but Vandeweghe refused to lay down and broke back to trail 3-2, again urging the crowd to get behind her as she marched back to her chair.
Sharapova had struggled for consistency all day but put together a run of aggressive, accurate returns to break again for a 4-2 lead and then landed a rare ace to finish off her next service game to make it 5-2.
This time there was no coming back as Sharapova then broke again to take the match and set up a semi-final against top seed Serena Williams.
"I was pretty dominant in the first and early in the second set but things slipped away," said the five-time Grand Slam champion.
"She's playing with a lot of confidence but I really regrouped in the third.
"You have to give everything you have on a special occasion on a special court.
"It's been a while since I've been at the semi-final stage (at Wimbledon) so I'm really happy."
Vandeweghe accused Sharapova of a lack of sportsmanship after the match, claiming her opponent had tried to put her off while she served.
"What I experienced, what I felt from her moving around in between my serving motion was not, I don't think, sportsmanlike," Vandeweghe said.
"I try to play as fair as I can. When I felt like it wasn't being reciprocated, that's when I spoke with the umpire for her to deal with.
"She said she didn't believe she was doing it during the motion. I strongly disagreed.
"Towards the later end of the second set, I said if she has a problem speaking to Maria, if she's too scared to do it, I had no problem speaking to her."
Sharapova refused to be drawn on the accusations.
"It is what it is," the 2004 Wimbledon champion said. "What she said, I'm not going to argue against her words."