Down Under the Radar: Tecau, Vandeweghe making the most of mixed

MELBOURNE, Australia—CoCo Vandeweghe’s 2016 Australian Open got off to a rough start with a first-round singles loss to fellow American Madison Brengle. But things turned around unexpectedly when the world’s No. 2-ranked doubles player, Horia Tecau, wanted to play the mixed event with her.

“I still don’t have his number,” Vandeweghe said. “He reached out to my coach.”

Vandeweghe admitted to Googling the Romanian right away, and unabashedly scanned for shirtless pictures.

Tecau was looking for a mixed doubles partner after a couple failed attempts at trying to play with a compatriot—it is an Olympic year, after all. He is coming off an incredible 2015 season, winning Wimbledon and the ATP World Tour Finals with Jean-Julien Rojer to dethrone the Bryan brothers and end the season as the best doubles team in the world.

“I want somebody with a big game,” Tecau said. “I thought [Vandeweghe] had a big game. If we get along and if we can put it together as a team, I had a feeling that we can win it.”

So far, Tecau has been right. On Friday, Vandeweghe and Tecau beat Andreja Klepac and Treat Huey, 6-4, 6-4, to reach the mixed doubles final. In the quarterfinals, they upset second seeds Bob Bryan and Bethanie Mattek-Sands in a third-set tiebreaker.

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Despite the difference in doubles experience, Vandeweghe has held her own, using her big serve and net presence to great effect during the semifinals while appearing supremely confident out on Rod Laver Arena from start to finish.

“She knows what she’s doing,” Tecau said. “If there’s a few strategy key points that I can use in the match I’ll tell her. She sees the game pretty well. I know most of these guys, I’ve played against them a lot of times, I know what they like to hit and what they don’t, so I can tell her a few things—everything else is just keep swinging.”

Vandeweghe admitted that at the start of the tournament, she was a little thrown off to be playing against professionals of the opposite sex.

“I think after the first match I settled down more, like, ‘Oh Jesus, there’s two dudes out here on the court,’” Vandeweghe said. “Usually you don’t see that. After the first match I think I definitely settled down.”

Their run almost ended in their very first match, against Lucie Hradecka and Marcin Matkowski, but Vandeweghe and Tecau escaped, 1-6, 7-5, (10-8).

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Vandeweghe is playing mixed doubles for just the second time, but has been enjoying a run of newfound doubles success. She reached the quarterfinals here with Anna-Lena Groenefeld, losing to eventual champions Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1. She also reached the semifinals of last year’s U.S. Open with Groenfeld.

Tecau, an extremely accomplished doubles player, has won the Australian Open mixed title before, in 2012 with another American, Mattek-Sands.

“I love playing Grand Slams,” Tecau said. “Mixed doubles is another opportunity to play. When I first started playing doubles, mixed doubles was before like the young sister that nobody pays attention to … Then I won it here in 2012. It was big in Romania, it was big for me, it didn’t matter that it was in mixed. That’s when I realized how important it was for me.”

The duo may not have known each other very well before their run in Melbourne, but their powerful games have meshed and they’ve got imposing height on their side: Tecau is 6’4” and Vandeweghe is 6’1”.

“I’m playing with the No. 2 player in the world, hopefully I can pick up my level and don’t embarrass him out there,” Vandeweghe said.

The more outspoken of the two, Vandeweghe hasn’t embarrassed Tecau yet, on or off the court, despite the Googling confession. We’ll see what happens if they go on to win the title.

“Get drunk on my flight,” Tecau said. “I’ve won it here before and I did that.”