The second of the semifinals at Edgbaston Priory Club saw two very good grass court players face off: Coco Vandeweghe and Barbora Strycova. Both Strycova and Vandeweghe can lay claim to a Wimbledon quarterfinal with Strycova achieving that feat in Wimbledon 2014, whereas Vandeweghe made the same stage at last year’s Championships. The appealing nature to this match up is seeing the power game of Vandeweghe against the variation that Strycova will produce with nearly enough every shot.
There really is no secret to the rise of Strycova in the women’s game. The versatility in Strycova’s game is what has pushed her inside the Top 20 and now sees her in the Top 30. She posts good results on grass, has the variation to get her positive wins on clay, and also performs well on the hard court as was shown when she made the Doha Final earlier this year, losing to Sara Errani in the final.
Vandeweghe’s aggressive and fluid game style was working to perfection as she took the first set 6-2. Despite Vandeweghe clearly feeling great about her game she would find herself facing adversity. The determined Strycova fought back through getting a lot of balls back, throwing everything at the American and getting her reward by taking the second set 6-4.
The most notable talking points came in the deciding set. Strycova achieved the first break for *3-1 but lost her serve immediately after. Following Vandeweghe successfully clawing her way into the third set, she would have the biggest of meltdowns at the interval. Her coach, Craig Kardon tried his best to instill some positivity into the Vandeweghe game as her emotions got the better of her.
Vandewehge was honest with how she felt on court and explained what the underlying issues were.
“Good question. I’m not really a crier, which is funny. I don’t know. Just everything hit me all at once, just the buildup you could say. It wasn’t one particular thing. I mean, it’s an emotional game and emotional sport. I’ve been playing a lot of matches, a lot of tennis. A lot of things happen in every single match. Sometimes it just compounds and you get a result of some sort of emotional flares. We’re all human. I definitely showed it out there, which is, I don’t know, I’m still trying to pull myself together a little bit. So it’s just a lot of things that happened on and off the court. It wasn’t one thing in particular. I can’t point anything in particular out.”
The rising American, who will break into the Top 30 for the first time virtue of her two positive weeks, eventually lost her way in the third set. She missed a lot of easy forehands and her shot selection was completely wayward which ultimately decided her fate. Strycova prevailed in a tight three set match to make her second Aegon Classic final in the space of two years.
Strycova answered questions about her week, the prospect of playing Madison Keys in the final, and representing her country at the Olympic games.
“Well I go for that match to, I don’t want to say nothing to lose, but it’s a final. It can change many things. It’s on grass and I like to play on grass. It’s going to be a totally different match. The last match (with Keys) in Rome was a really tough one. I lost 6-4 in the third. But she’s a great player. I have to bring some good tennis.”
I asked the Czech player why she wasn’t picked for the Olympic games in doubles, considering she’s a very good doubles player as she demonstrated in the Fed Cup Final deciding rubber last season.
“The reason is that my ranking was not good enough. We have so many players who have better ranking than me. So it was tough decision for the coach, to tell me also that I’m not playing. But I think it is fair how it is. I’m going to play the singles and I will focus on that.”
The success of Strycova in the Edgbaston Priory Club is quite something–why Birmingham? What is it about Birmingham that brings out the best in Strycova, who has made the singles and doubles final in the same week here.
“I don’t know. I like the people. I like the surroundings and the tournament. The organization is very nice. So I feel nice here and I like to play here. And the courts is really good. They are really amazing.”
Barbora Strycova faces Madison Keys in tomorrow’s Aegon Classic Final at 1:30pm local time.
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