Caroline Wozniacki Upset: CoCo Vandeweghe Enters Second Wimbledon Quarterfinals

After defeating Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth round of the Wimbledon tournament Monday, tennis player CoCo Vandeweghe enters the quarterfinals for the second time in her athletic career with confidence as her guide.

“I think my game runs on confidence,” the athlete said.

“I’m not going to be able to hit my shots if I’m thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh, I’m going to miss. I haven’t made this forehand in four tries, I’m going to miss this next one.’… I go into matches thinking that I can win every match I play … Confidence is a huge thing for me.”

Vandeweghe defeated Wozniacki 7-6(4), 6-4. Wozniacki was hoping to receive her first Grand Slam title in the tournament, but instead left early, part of an ongoing trend in the Danish athlete’s tennis career.

Now the American tennis player moves on to the quarterfinals against Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova, who is competing in her first Wimbledon quarterfinal.

Vandeweghe says thanks to her experience in the Australian Open in January, she was not worried about the Wimbledon performance.

“Once you have done it once, it’s easier to do it the second time. I think the first time making a second week of a Grand Slam is probably the most difficult … Once you get there, the nerves aren’t so anxious, in a way of, ‘Can I do this, can I not?’ Because you have already proven it to yourself.”

Vandeweghe is joined in the women’s quarterfinals by Venus Williams, Johanna Konta, Simona Halep, Garbine Muguruza, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Jelena Ostapenko. Konta will be the first British woman to join the quarterfinals since 1984.

In the men’s singles competition, Luxembourgish tennis player Giles Muller defeated fan favorite, Spanish player Rafael Nadal.

Meanwhile, defending champion Andy Murray defeated the French Benoit Paire 7-6 6-4 6-4. Murray is now the third athlete in tennis history to reach ten quarter-finals in a row at one tournament. It’s the first time in 44 years that a British male and female player made the quarterfinals. Back then, in 1973, it was Roger Taylor and Virginia Wade that carried the hopes of their nation on their shoulders.

The Wimbledon final for both men and women is scheduled for July 15.

[Featured Image By Clive Brunskil/Getty Images]