2018 WTA Preview: No. 10, CoCo Vandeweghe

As a preview of 2018, Baseline is taking a look at all the Top 10 finishers from the ATP and WTA.

10

Vandeweghe started and ended 2017 with a bang bigger than her serve. The 26-year-old American made huge splashes at the majors with semifinal shows at the Australian Open and US Open (a quarterfinal run at Wimbledon is nothing to cry about either). She beat then-No. 1's twice (Angelique Kerber in Melbourne and Karolina Pliskova in New York).

Moment of the Year

Her Grand Slam semifinal double was incredible, but Vandeweghe isn't shy about her pride in representing the red, white and blue. So her best moment has to be her three strong wins (including the doubles clincher with Shelby Rogers) during the Fed Cup final. America would take out Belarus in Minsk, 3-2, ending a 17-year U.S. Fed Cup drought. Vandweghe would finish the 2017 Fed Cup season undefeated.

Hot Shot of the Year

Vandeweghe's greatest kryptonite in 2017 was fellow big-hitting American Madison Keys. She lost to her in the Stanford final (in their first-ever pro match against each other) as well as in the US Open semifinals. Vandeweghe did get one set off Keys in Cincinnati with the help of some added diversity to her game:

Outlook for 2018

There's no reason Vandeweghe can't hold onto her newly minted Top 10 status, but she'll need to post big results outside of the majors if she wants to make things easier on herself. With Pat Cash guiding her, another deep Grand Slam run is just around the corner, and who knows, maybe even a major title.