Kerber struck form in her third round win over Kristyna Pliskova while Coco won against Genie Bouchard in a three setter to reach this match up.
The American served first and though taken to deuce had winners up her sleeve once there and held for 1-0.
The big serve and big hitting continued, and winners flowed, but Kerber was able to bear it and give some back of her own, and games were on serve 3-2 Coco.
Game six began badly for the top seed with a double fault. A forehand winner from Coco followed by a forced backhand mistake by Angie created two break opportunities for Vandeweghe. They were both wasted.
A third chance arrived thanks to a Coco backhand winner and this was converted.
The lead was now 4-2.
Serving to stay alive in the set at 2-5, Angie's backhand let her down, losing three points in a row from 15-15 and the set was gone 2-6.
Striking back immediately, Kerber broke Vandeweghe in the opening game of set two, unforced errors and a double fault helping of course.
Kerber consolidated, not with any clean winners, but with what she does best, forcing Coco into difficulty and producing errors as a result.
A couple of Kerber winners did feature in the fourth game where she extended the lead to 3-1 and looked capable of taking the match to a decider.
Coco did not subscribe to that line of thinking, and after holding serve impressively, a service winner finishing the game, the brash American let her racquet speak and it broke Angie to love. 3-3 and the complexion of the set changed in an instant.
A winning forehand and an ace to seal her next game took Coco to a 4-3 lead, and she was an unstoppable force.
At 30-0 Angie served a double fault. Coco saw the opening and barged in with three clean winners - two forehands and a backhand - to smash the Kerber serve again, lead 5-3 and give herself the chance to serve for a quarter final spot.
Coco served an ace at 30-30 to create match point, and it was all she needed.
The 6-2 6-3 win was a huge upset but given that performance, no limits should be placed on how far Coco Vandeweghe can go in this tournament.
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