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Post by Admin on Jun 30, 2014 22:43:33 GMT
Playing at the humid, covered Centre Court at the All England Club and trailing her opponent 5-3 in the second set, Bouchard won four straight games Monday to beat France’s Alize Cornet 7-6 (5), 7-5 and advance to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon. With Cornet serving for the set, Bouchard didn’t panic and broke her opponent twice, including on match point. Though only 20 years old, the experience from making the semi-finals of both the Australian Open and French Open earlier this year is paying dividends. “I’m proud that I stayed in it even though I was kind of playing catch-up,” Bouchard said after the match. “I always felt right there, trying to put pressure [on] all the time.” Bouchard, the No. 13 seed from Westmount, Que., will next play the winner of a match between fifth seed Maria Sharapova and ninth seed Angelique Kerber of Germany. Bouchard has been a winner at the All England Club before, taking the 2012 junior women’s title. Conditions were different for Monday’s match, which was interrupted by rain before the movable roof over Centre Court closed. The 20-year-old Canadian made the most of her return when play resumed, coming back from a 3-2 deficit to win the first set. A bigger comeback in the second allowed her to improve her Grand Slam record to 14-2. “I’m really proud of how I fought,” Bouchard said. “It was not an easy match. She’s a good player and gets a lot of balls back. I tried to finish off the points, which I managed. It was my first time under the famous roof. It’s quite humid, not a lot of air circulating. Conditions were tough but they were the same for both of us.”
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Post by Admin on Jul 1, 2014 23:02:54 GMT
The Wimbledon women’s title was up for grabs the instant Serena Williams walked off the court Saturday afternoon, an upset loser to Alize Cornet. Then the draw was thrown into complete chaos on Tuesday when Maria Sharapova fell in three sets to Angelique Kerber. Consider the upheaval in the women’s draw: • Only two of the top eight seeds made the quarterfinals. (Only seven of the top 16 seeds had even advanced to the round of 16.) • One of the following women will win the championship: Simona Halep, Petra Kvitova, Angelique Kerber, Eugenie Bouchard, Sabine Lisicki, Lucie Safarova and Barbara Zahalova Strycova. Only Kvitova has won a major (Wimbledon 2011). Halep and Lisicki have one Slam finals appearance each. Kerber and Bouchard have played in multiple Slam semifinals. • Eugenie Bouchard, a 20-year-old playing in just her sixth Grand Slam, is currently the third betting favorite to win the tournament. She’s at 5/1, behind Kvitova (11/4) and Halep (4/1). • The eight women in the quarterfinals entered the tournament with a combined 10 appearances in Grand Slam semifinals. Serena Williams has eight semifinal appearances just at Wimbledon. • Lucie Safarova became the first woman to advance to the semifinals, which makes her 5-0 at this year’s tournament. In her eight previous Wimbledons, Safarova had a total of four wins. If you have to call a favorite, the oddsmakers have it right. Though Kvitova won’t play her quarterfinal until later Tuesday afternoon, she has the easiest road to the finals, as she’d face Safarova in the semis. The women in the top half of the draw are Bouchard, Kerber, Lisicki and Halep — easily four of the best five women to make the semis. That’s a much tougher road.
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Post by Admin on Jul 2, 2014 23:15:36 GMT
Eugenie Bouchard today became the first Canadian in the Open era of tennis to reach the semifinals of a Wimbledon singles tournament, defeating No. 9 seed Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-3, 6-4. Bouchard, the No. 13 seed from Montreal, has now reached the final four in each of the three Grand Slam events this season. The 20-year-old lost in the semis at both the Australian Open and the French Open. Bouchard will now face No. 3 seed Simona Halep, who dispatched No. 19 Sabine Lisicki 6-4, 6-0 on the grass of the All England Club. Bouchard lost her only previous meeting against Halep, on the hardcourt surface at Indian Wells last March. "She's a good player and I'm ready for another tough match," Bouchard said. 22-year-old Simona Halep and 20-year-old Eugenie Bouchard will square off Thursday afternoon in a showdown of WTA Rising Stars. The two will take to Wimbledon Centre Court with a spot in the Wimbledon final on the line. Both have had tremendous success at Grand Slams this season. Bouchard is actually the only player to reach all three Grand Slam semifinals this season and just the sixth player to do so since 2000. While Halep is the only player behind Bouchard to make all three Grand Slam quarterfinals and is into her second straight Slam semifinal. Rankings Impact • Halep will rise to a career-high ranking of World No.2 by reaching the final • Bouchard is set to make her Top 10 debut on Monday, moving to World No.8, equaling the highest ranking by Canadian. She also has a chance to enter to the Top 5 depending on other results Halep won their only prior meeting, edging Bouchard in 3-sets at the BNP Paribas Open.
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Post by Admin on Jul 3, 2014 22:39:46 GMT
Eugenie Bouchard could have lost her focus after the fourth game of her Wimbledon semifinal Thursday, when play was delayed for five minutes during Simona Halep's medical timeout for a left ankle injury. Bouchard also could have gotten sidetracked when action was halted again, smack-dab in the middle of a tiebreaker, because an ill spectator was being attended to in the Centre Court stands. And everything really could have unraveled for Bouchard later, as she let match point after match point slip away. Able to steel herself time and again, the singular-of-purpose Bouchard became Canada's first Grand Slam finalist by beating French Open runner-up Halep 7-6 (5), 6-2 at the All England Club. "I'm able to not worry about the distractions," the 20-year-old Bouchard said. "What I do well is I really don't let it get to me or affect me." In only her sixth major tournament, the 13th-seeded Bouchard will play for the championship Saturday against 2011 Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova. The sixth-seeded Kvitova defeated No. 23 Lucie Safarova 7-6 (6), 6-1 in the first all-Czech women's Slam semifinal. "I know how (it feels) when you hold the trophy," Kvitova said, "so I really want to win my second title here, and I will do everything (so) I can." As of now, the 24-year-old Kvitova is the only man or woman born in the 1990s to win a Grand Slam title. If Bouchard becomes the second, she also would be the youngest major champion since Maria Sharapova was 19 at the 2006 U.S. Open. "It's what I've worked so long for," Bouchard said, without a hint of irony. Yes, Bouchard is clearly in a hurry — and, by the looks of her muted post-victory reaction, didn't appear all that thrilled to get past the third-seeded Halep, who twisted her ankle in the early going and got it taped by a trainer. "I feel like my job is not done here," Bouchard said, "so there's no need for a huge celebration."
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Post by Admin on Jul 4, 2014 15:05:52 GMT
After Bouchard won her semifinal Thursday, the 20-year-old was asked whether she thinks pop star Bieber is aware that she's the first tennis player from Canada to reach a Grand Slam title match. "I hope so," she said with a smile. "I'm putting in so much hard work. I want to see this hard work rewarded." When Bouchard was teasingly asked whether Bieber has been in touch with her during Wimbledon, she said he hadn't and laughed. "You know," Bouchard said, going along with the joke, "he's kind of been in trouble recently." Then, she said: "I'm not associated with that at the moment. But, you know, if he cleans up his image. ..." Bieber is scheduled to go on trial in July in Miami on charges he was driving under the influence and without a valid driver's license. He has also been charged in Toronto with assault. Last month, Bieber apologized after a years-old video surfaced showing him telling a racist joke. Bouchard, who will face Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic in Saturday's final at the All England Club, also was asked whether Bieber might be Royal Box "material" at Centre Court, where actors and singers mix with sports stars and monarchs. "He's not?" Bouchard said, grinning. "They really wouldn't allow him in the Royal Box if he came? I feel like he would manage to get himself in there somehow." OK, well if Bieber can't make, who would Bouchard want to see in that VIP area? "Um, that's a tough question," she said. "I would love, like, to see Oprah there."
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