Vandeweghe blasts into first grand slam semi-final

MELBOURNE ( Reuters) - Coco Vandeweghe blasted her way into her first grand slam semi-final with a dominant display of power tennis to destroy French Open champion Garbine Muguruza 6-4 6-0 at the Australian Open on Tuesday.

The 25-year-old American, who was equally as impressive in dispatching world number one Angelique Kerber in the previous round, controlled the match from the seventh game of the first set when she achieved her first break of serve.

Having taken 56 minutes to wrap up the first set, Vandeweghe raced through the second as she blasted winners from both sides of the court and did not give Muguruza a break opportunity until she was serving for the match.

Vandeweghe, whose previous best grand slam tournament was making the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in 2015, will now meet compatriot Venus Williams in Thursday's semi-final.

(Writing by Greg Stutchbury in Wellington; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)