Coco Vandeweghe has achieved a breakout season in 2014. The American has rocketed up the rankings from No. 110 to the top 50 after reaching her career high of No. 41 last week. Now, having built momentum, Vandeweghe will look to make strides towards the next level on the American hard courts in the coming weeks.

She returned home to California, where she now resides, to compete in this week's Bank of the West Classic after she received entry following Sara Errani's withdrawal. The 22-year-old powerhitter advanced routinely in her opener on Monday night against overmatched wildcard Kristie Ahn, who lacked experience at WTA events.

After previously treading water in qualifiers and Challenger events, Vandeweghe appeared to turn a corner in her career this March. She assembled a successful run in Miami, defeating Samantha Stosur and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova along the way. In June, after a period of inconsistency, she won her maiden WTA title at the Dutch Open with impressive victories over Garbine Muguruza and Klara Koukalova (formerly Zakopalova) before defeating Zheng Jie in the final. It was during this period that Vandeweghe put together a streak of eight straight wins on grass, reigning victorious in 10 of 12 matches that included another victory over Muguruza at Wimbledon. The American took a month off before returning to action at Stanford on Monday.

Now, looking to build off her grass success, Vandeweghe returns to a tournament where she has fond memories. It was in 2012 that she made her unlikely run to the final of the Bank of the West Classic as a lucky loser, defeating Jelena Jankovic and Yanina Wickmayer before falling to Serena Williams in the championship match.

However, her success on the American hard courts faltered afterwards. In 2012, Vandeweghe failed to qualify at both Washington and Cincinnati. A year later, she sandwiched the Stanford event and the U. S. Open between a series of Challenger tournaments. After advancing through the qualifying draws in both WTA events, she was only successful in taking one match at each of them.

This summer, Vandeweghe will look to build on her most successful professional season with a strong showing during the US Open Series before it culminates at the last Grand Slam in New York. In front of her is an opportunity to gain ground and position herself to ultimately attempt to maneuver past Americans Madison Keys, Venus Williams, and Sloane Stephens as American No. 2 behind Serena Williams. While that task is a lofty one, her ranking will afford her a better opportunity to compete in tournaments where she could potentially accrue valuable rankings points to aid in her pursuit of that goal.

With the stranglehold of the Williams sisters on American tennis perhaps entering its twilight, Vandeweghe has now firmly placed herself in the conversation as a torch bearer along with a handful of other young Americans. The quickness and prosperity of her journey could receive an infusion with success over the next several weeks. Still at just 22 years of age, Vandeweghe has plenty of time. If she is capable of duplicating her improvement over the last year, she might be perfectly positioned to fulfill her potential well before she enters her prime.