By Giovanni Vianello
In the all American semi-final, CoCo Vandeweghe only loses four games against Cici Bellis and reaches the final in Stanford for the second time in her career.
In the first semi-final of Stanford, CoCo Vandeweghe and Catherine (Cici) Bellis faced each other in an all stars and stripes clash. Both of the players had reached the semis without dropping a set, with CoCo having lost just 9 games en route to the final. Bellis, on the other hand, in the quarterfinals had defeated seed 2 Petra Kvitova with a stunning performance.
Cici had a shocking start, hitting several shots wide or long and losing the serve at 15 in the match’s first game. Vandeweghe held serve at love in the second game and so confirmed the break of advantage. Bellis then saved a break point with a good serve and, afterwards, held service and so won her first game in the match. In the fourth game, CoCo saved two consecutive break points and then gained a 3-1 lead, but Cici looked like she was beginning to understand how to play against the Californian player; in fact, Bellis tried to make Vandeweghe hit on the run.
In the fifth game, anyway, CoCo again had the chance of playing mostly not on the run and displayed all of the power of her groundstrokes, taking another break of serve. An easy service game for Vandeweghe followed and CoCo got two points away from the first set when she reached the 30-30 on Bellis’ service, but Cici held the serve with two consecutive points. In the eighth game Vandeweghe showed lack of concentration and wasted her first opportunity to serve for the set. CoCo secured the first set in the ninth game, anyway, by breaking her opponent for the third time in the set.
The second set started with two games that saw the serving player winning the game with ease. Vandeweghe then earned a 4-1 lead after winning two consecutive service games and breaking Bellis in the fourth game at the advantages with an impressive display of baseline game, with both forehand and backhand. The break in the fourth game looked like the final surrender by Bellis, who then got down a second break in the second set. The set ended 6-1 for Vandeweghe, who is therefore the first finalist of WTA Stanford tournament.
All in all, it was a no-contest match, as the score testifies. Vandeweghe was simply too powerful for the young Bellis, who looked quiet without any weapon to encounter the CoCo’s ball-weight.
