By Richard Pagliaro
© Tony Chang/Chang Photography

(November 5, 2010) The USA is hoping Coco power can ignite a Fed Cup final upset. World No. 114 Coco Vandeweghe grew up in southern California and will experience a tennis comeing of age in San Diego tomorrow. Vandeweghe will make her Fed Cup debut facing French Open champion Francesca Schiavone in the opening singles match of the Fed Cup final between the host Americans and defending champion Italy at the San Diego Sports Arena.

The 18-year-old Vandeweghe, who replaces Melanie Oudin as a singles starter, will be the first player since Chanda Rubin 1995 to make her debut Fed Cup debut in a final. The opening match of the best-of-five match final starts at 4 p.m. Eastern time and will be televised live by Tennis Channel.

World No. 58 Bethanie Mattek-Sands, the highest-ranked singles player on the American squad, will play Flavia Pennetta in Saturday's second singles match.

In Sunday's reverse singles, Vandeweghe will face Pennetta followed by Mattek-Sands against Schiavone. The doubles that concludes the tie pits Oudin and US Open mixed doubles champion Liezel Huber against Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci. 

U.S. captain Mary Joe Fernandez opted to start the 6-foot-1 Vandeweghe, the niece of former UCLA and New York Knicks standout Kiki Vandeweghe over 2009 US Open quarterfinalist Oudin, in part because Vandeweghe owns a vicious first serve and is an attacking player capable of exploding for a series of winners or erupting in a stream of errors if she's off.

Fernandez feels Vandeweghe's power and her ability to hit heavy spin can be effective against the 5-foot-5 Schiavone, an all-court player who can be overwerpowered on hard courts by power players.

"I was thinking who the best matchup for Schiavone would be.  She's such a different style of player than I think the players are accustomed," Fernandez said in today's draw ceremony at Sea World. "I decided with CoCo, with her height, her serve, her ability to really hit the ball up here, that's a good choice to start the day."

While Fernandez's decision may seem surprising on the surface, when you dig deeper it is the sound choice.

Given the speed of the surface and recent results Vandeweghe, who is the youngest, least-experienced and lowest-ranked woman in the final, has the ability to take command in rallies if she maintain her nerve and play with the consistency that can elude her at times.

Vandeweghe owns the biggest serve of any American and can play an attacking game that could be most conducive to the surface. On the other hand, starting an 18-year-old who has never played a Fed Cup match, in the final obviously comes with significant risk.

"I am a little bit surprised because I know all the balance from one player to the other one,” said Schiavone. “I think she's young, she's growing up.  She play very good this year.”

Vandeweghe rode a crunching serve and offensive mind-set in beating Wimbledon and US Open finalist Vera Zvonareva, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, in July to advance to the Mercury Insurance Open quarterfinals at the La Costa Resort and Spa. Vandeweghe has an immense athletic upside, but is still growing into her game which sometimes means she is capable of blowing away opponents or imploding in errors on a match-to-match basis. Fernandez believes Vandeweghe's power, athleticism and versatility makes her a threat against any woman in the world.

"I would have picked her no matter where we were playing; she's progressing so well and brings a different style of game," Fernandez said of Vandeweghe. "She's a strong, tall player with variety and heavy shots. The kind of tennis she played vs. Zvonareva is top 10 tennis. Now, it's a matter of taking it to another level with consistency and getting even fitter and quicker. She's starting now to win the matches she was struggling with a year ago so there's a lot of good signs now with Coco."

Mattek-Sands won singles and doubles matches in the USA's 3-2 semifinal win over Russia to become the first player in U.S. Fed Cup history to win consecutive live Fed Cup matches on the final day of competition. She has a clear game-plan for this weekend's final.

"Play aggressive," Mattek-Sands said. "Go at ’em, make them hit winners, make them pass
me at the net."

It is the same Italian squad that swept the Americans, 4-0, on the red clay of Reggio Calabria to capture the 2009 Fed Cup championship last November. Italy has reached the Fed Cup final in four of the last five years.

The USA is seeking its record-extending 18th Fed Cup championship and first since 2000.





 

 R1: CoCo Vandeweghe (USA) v Francesca Schiavone (ITA)

R2: Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) v Flavia Pennetta (ITA)

R3: Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) v Francesca Schiavone (ITA)

R4: CoCo Vandeweghe (USA) v Flavia Pennetta (ITA)

R5: Liezel Huber / Melanie Oudin (USA) v Sara Errani / Roberta Vinci (ITA)