‘Chilled’ Coco topples Garcia

STUTTGART — CoCo Vandeweghe beat France’s Caroline Garcia 6-4, 6-2 to reach her first career clay final at the Stuttgart Grand Prix on Saturday.

The last American to reach a final in Germany’s automotive capital was Lindsay Davenport in 2005. On Sunday, Vandeweghe will face either fifth seeded Czech Karolina Pliskova or Anett Kontaveit of Estonia who meet in Saturday’s other semifinal.

The 16th ranked Vandeweghe has proved a revelation this week on a surface that she has never shone on before, seeing off world number one Simona Halep in the quarterfinals.

“I’m playing relaxed, chill,” the 26-year-old with a pair of Dutch grass court titles on her WTA curriculum vitae said. “It’s like I’m on the beach in California.” —