Forget the future. Forget who, among the many young and talented American women, will fill the void when the Williams sisters exit the sport.
CoCo Vandeweghe’s time can be now. Madison Keys is equally capable.
A U.S. Open title is just three wins away, and Serena Williams is busy with her newborn daughter, leaving her throne unguarded.
“I think a lot of players chase after what [Serena has] done. She’s one of the best of all time,” Vandeweghe said following her fourth-round win Monday. “When you start playing tennis as a kid, you dream of trophies at the end of the week.”
Vandeweghe and Keys have earned every right to dream what no one else bothered imagining before this tournament, having become — along with Sloane Stephens, who won her fourth-round match Tuesday over Anastasija Sevastova — the first American women other than Serena and Venus Williams to reach the quarterfinals in Queens since 2006.
Keys, seeded 15th, faces qualifier Kaia Kanepi under the lights Wednesday at Arthur Ashe Stadium, and the 20th-seeded Vandeweghe meets No. 1 Karolina Pliskova in the afternoon.
The magnitude of the matches are nothing new to either American.
Just this year, Vandeweghe, 25, has reached the Australian Open semifinals and advanced to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.
Vandeweghe has split four head-to-head meetings with Pliskova, last year’s U.S. Open finalist. Pliskova won their only match this year and Vandeweghe took the most recent battle on hardcourts, last year in Dubai.
“If you are so in awe of someone being No. 1 in the world, then I don’t think you’re going into a match all focused and all there, ready to go,” Vandeweghe said. “I don’t think it’s much different than any other match.”
Keys, 22, made a career-best run to the Australian Open semifinals in 2015 and also reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon that year. Until this week, however, she had endured the most disappointing season of her career.
After making four straight fourth-round appearances in majors, Keys underwent wrist surgery, and missed the Australian Open, marking her first absence from a Grand Slam since 2012. At the French Open, she was stunned by qualifier Petra Martic in the second round. At Wimbledon, Keys was upset by Camilia Giorgi in the second round.
Now, however, Keys could make this the greatest year of her career.
“This is for sure the first Grand Slam I have come in and felt really good and healthy and ready to play,” Keys said. “It hasn’t always been fun, but I think I have learned a lot and grown a lot through the experience, so I’m just really happy that I feel like I’m on a really good path right now.”