Top 10 Stories from the 2017 Australian Open

4. Another New, Not So Nice, American Girl in the Semifinals

By the time she shocked Kerber, Colleen “Coco” Vandeweghe was already having a good run, taking out a seeded player in the first round, and ex-up and comer Eugenie Bouchard in the third. Those were not the most surprising wins. Although North American fans have endured overhyped flash in the pan blond North American girls who make big runs and then fail to follow up, Vandeweghe doesn’t fit the mold. She’s older than most of them, for one thing, at 25. Also, she built her success on far more previous results.

But it was when she took down Kerber that she truly sent a message. Then, for good measure, she bageled last year’s French Open winner Garbine Muguruza to win her quarterfinal match too. It was a bit of an American triumph, since the Williams sisters were two of the other three semifinalists. She played well against Venus Williams, who needed three sets to take her down.

Unfortunately, the whole sequence of events was not one that made all American fans happy. Vandeweghe may be a talented and promising tennis player, but for some time she’s left people unimpressed with her misbehavior on the court, including numerous instances of rudeness and even allegedly bumping an opponent on purpose once. Her behavior in the third round here didn’t help. Combine that with the fact that she’s a Trump supporter, and watching her win this week was downright painful for some. On the other hand, at least she lost to one of the Williams sisters.

Fortunately, for those wanting to cheer for a different underdog, she wasn’t the only shock semifinalist…