New York • CoCo Vandeweghe made it three Americans into the U.S. Open women’s semifinals, beating top-seeded Karolina Pliskova 7-6 (4), 6-3 on Wednesday.
The 20th-seeded Vandeweghe matched her best result in a Grand Slam tournament, having also reached the semifinals of the Australian Open in January before falling to Venus Williams.
Williams is also into the semifinals in Flushing Meadows along with Sloane Stephens, and No. 15 Madison Keys had a chance to make it an all-American final four if she beats 418th-ranked qualifier Kaia Kanepi on Wednesday night.
The Americans haven’t had all four semifinalists at the U.S. Open since 1981, when Tracy Austin beat Martina Navratilova for the title. Chris Evert and Barbara Potter also made the semifinals.
Vandeweghe raced to a 3-0 lead in the first-set tiebreaker, then got an early break in the second set on her way to 3-1 lead, frustrating last year’s runner-up with her powerful shots.
Pliskova, who lost to Angelique Kerber in the 2016 final, needed to get back to the final to remain atop the WTA rankings. She will be replaced on Monday by Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza, who lost in the fourth round.
The Czech had been starting slowly during the tournament, dropping the first set in the second and third round before overwhelming unseeded American Jennifer Brady in 46 minutes on Monday.
But she couldn’t mount any sort of comeback against Vandeweghe, who comes from a decorated athletic family and is finally making a name of her own this year.
Nine years after winning the U.S. Open junior title, she finally got past a major quarterfinal in Australia, then needed only eight months to do it again.