Maria Sharapova will look to continue her march towards another Wimbledon final by getting the better of the unseeded American Coco Vandeweghe in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon 2015 on Tuesday.
Sharapova has looked pretty good so far at this year's Wimbledon, not dropping a single set en route to the quarterfinals. The Russian No.4 seed will also be pretty happy at making the last eight for the first time since 2011.
It is 11 years since Sharapova last won the Wimbledon title – her only one – and if she is to give herself another shot at the ultimate crown in tennis, she will need to be at her best against Vandeweghe, who has been impressive, and then some, in her four matches at the All-England Club this year.
The American has not dropped a single set so far at this Wimbledon, and her scalps include Karolina Pliskova in the second round, Sam Stosur in the third round, and finally Lucie Safarova, the French Open 2015 finalist, in the last 16 on Monday.
While the win over Stosur, which confirmed her best ever performance in a Grand Slam, was comprehensive, the victory over Safarova in the fourth round showed the American's potential to grind out results even when she is not at her best.
"I didn't really feel that good," the 23-year-old said after her 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (7-4) win over sixth seed Safarova. "I thought it was one of my worst matches that I played the whole tournament so far.
"Serve was kind of in and out. I mean, it was there when I needed it, especially towards the end.
"It's a match win. I mean, if we're going to go by upsets, I have already had three. It's just another win."
Sharapova, who was far from her best, but still good enough in the fourth round against Zarina Diyas, will definitely provide Vandeweghe her biggest test by far, but the beauty of being an unseeded player in the quarterfinal is that you have absolutely nothing to lose.
When you do go in with that mindset, you play a lot more loose tennis, and that means Sharapova might have to negotiate a few go-for-broke shots, particularly early in the match.
"This is the furthest I have ever gone in a Grand Slam and I'm playing really well at this time, but I'm not really considering it like, wow, a breakthrough," Vandeweghe added.
"I think it's stepping stones more than a breakthrough. I would more say it's on the lines of it's been a while coming."
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Sharapova vs Vandeweghe is the first match on Centre Court with the contest set for a 5.30 pm IST (1pm BST, 8am ET) start.
The quarterfinal match will be shown live on Star Sports 2 in India, while the quarterfinal action can also be watched via live streaming online on Starsports.com and Hotstar.
ESPN is the place to root for American Vandeweghe as she plays Sharapova, with the live stream option on Watch ESPN. Channel 7 is the place to watch the quarterfinal matches in Australia, with the live streaming option on Channel7 online.
BBC One and BBC Two will show all the last eight action live in the UK and Ireland, while the matches can also be live streamed on on BBC iPlayer. The radio option for Maria Sharapova vs Coco Vandeweghe is BBC Radio 5 Live.
