Ladies and gentleman, introducing another rising American star on the WTA circuit, it’s Madison Brengle. At 25 years old, she’s a late bloomer, but nonetheless, she’s getting results that are putting her on the map. After defeating Caroline Garcia 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, Brengle has earned a spot in her first ever WTA Premier semifinal against Angelique Kerber, who upset Maria Sharapova and Ekaterina Makarova. On the way to her first Premier semifinal, she defeated lucky loser Alberta Brianti and fourth-ranked Petra Kvitova.

Caroline Garcia, a rising star in her own self, was looking good for the first set and a half dictating play with her groundstrokes. She was hitting through both her forehand and backhand well plus the added topspin on her shots on the high bouncing clay made it difficult for the much shorter Brengle to deal with them. After denying multiple break point opportunities in the second, Brengle looked to pounce on the chance to send the match to a deciding set.

She did just that by coming through with timely serves and using her speed and consistency to cover Garcia’s shots forcing her to hit the extra shot and draw unforced errors from the Frenchwoman. This continued to be the theme throughout the third set as Garcia had break points to get back on serve, but Brengle once again denied her the chance to complete the break. Serving to stay in the match, Garcia got down 30-40, and Brengle forced another unforced error by making Garcia hit an overhead well wide sending Brengle to the semifinals.

Madison was once a highly touted junior making it to the semifinals of the coveted Orange Bowl, but after that, it was a roller coaster ride for the American. Failure, after failure, after failure to qualify for WTA events and Grand Slams halted her progress as a professional as she would continually play on the Challenger Circuit. Finally at age 24, she broke into the top 100 after spending seven years toiling outside the top 100 and even outside the top 200.

She got off to a nice start on the year qualifying for Brisbane and winning a main draw match before falling to Kaia Kanepi in straight sets. She took the momentum from Brisbane into Hobart to qualify for the tournament and make the final before losing to Heather Watson. At this point, she was 11-2 on her season and was hoping that Australia would continue to give her some good tennis vibes.

Indeed those good vibes continued as she upset 13th-seeded Andrea Petkovic in the first round of the Australian Open en route to her first ever appearance in the fourth round of a Grand Slam losing to Madison Keys, a semifinalist. She cooled down after her blazing start going 3-4 in the following two months, but a finals appearance in the Osprey Challenger continued her jump up the rankings.

She would continue her solid play on clay winning two matches in Charleston, but she was unable to replicate her Australian Open magic to upset Andrea Petkovic. Now we are back to today, Brengle may be a late bloomer, but she is another reason why the American women are thriving more than the men. She is one of eight women in the top 50 on the women's side compared to four American men. She's also proven that it takes years of patience, struggle, and hardwork on the Challengers to have your time to shine, and now it is hers. Albeit, Donald Young has made a phenomenal comeback in his own right, he's been in the spotlight before unlike Madison who is now just shining in it. 

Tomorrow, Brengle is up against Angelique Kerber, and even if she were to lose to her, she moves up to 36 in the world passing fellow Americans Coco Vandeweghe and Sloane Stephens. A finals appearance will put her in the top 30 and winning Stuttgart would put her at 29th in the world. Keep doing your thing Madison, just continue your stroll down Madison Avenue and big things could be awaiting on the horizon.

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About the author
Noel John Alberto
Filipino-American sports journalist from Toms River, NJ. UMBC Graduate and aspiring physical therapist. Tennis editor and multi-sport coordinator for VAVEL USA. Writer for Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Serie A sections of VAVEL UK. Sports aficionado. Host of the On The Line tennis podcast.