San Diegan CoCo Vandeweghe, who is currently ranked No. 19 the Women’s Tennis Association, has signed with the San Diego Aviators for the second season in a row, the team announced Tuesday.
The Australian Open and U.S. Open singles semifinalist will make her first 2018 World TeamTennis appearance at a home match July 23 against the Orange County Breakers. The match is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa.
Vandeweghe, who lives in Rancho Santa Fe, finished 2017 with a career-high singles ranking of No. 10 in the world. She’s won two career WTA singles title and represented the United State in Fed Cup and the Olympics. She’s also made it to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon twice.
“Over the years, local tennis fans have seen Vandeweghe become a world-class player who has competed at the highest levels of professional tennis,” Aviators general manager Jim Ault said. “With Coco in the line-up on July 23, it’s going to be a spectacular night against our Southern California rival.”
Last season, Vandeweghe led the Aviators to a 22-19 win over the Breakers when she won in women’s singles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
Fritz Shines at Aviators Opener
Native son Taylor Fritz shined in the Aviators opening match Sunday at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa.
San Diego was trailing the Springfield Lasers 7-6 when the Rancho Santa Fe-native, teamed with Marcin Matkowski, won a thrilling 5-4 match over Daniel Nestor and Miomir Kecmanovic. The win tied the match at 11-11.
Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Naomi Broady gave the Aviators control of the match, dropping only a single game in a 5-1 win over Abigail Spears and Vania King, a former Wimbledon and US Open doubles champion. With that, San Diego has a 16-12 lead heading into the final set with Fritz.
Fritz, who earlier in the evening at a 145-mph serve, gave the home crowd a quite a show with a dominating straight-sets victory over Miomir Kecmanovic that took just 12 minutes.
“The atmosphere here at La Costa is amazing. It’s great to have the support of your hometown,” Fritz said. “I always play better with my family and friends in the audience, just like at Indian Wells.”