Eugenie Bouchard Wins Again, Through To French Open Quarter Finals
By Jared Book
Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount became the first Canadian woman since 1989 to reach the quarter finals of the French Open yesterday, defeating Germany’s Angelique Kerber 6-1, 6-2.
Bouchard was joined in the quarterfinals by Milos Raonic making it the first time that two Canadians have reached the quarterfinal of a Grand Slam tournament.
Bouchard dominated Kerber, who is the No. 9 player in the world and seeded No. 8 at Roland-Garros. The match lasted only 52 minutes and was over before 6 a.m. Eastern.
Tomorrow she will try to reach her second straight Grand Slam semi-final. She lost to Li Na in the semi-final of the Australian Open to open the Grand Slam season. Bouchard will face off against Carla Suarez Navarro. Suarez Navarro beat Bouchard in the third round of Wimbledon last year.
Bouchard is also riding a nine match winning streak as she is coming off her first career win in Nuremberg. It is a career high winning streak for Bouchard who will extend her career high ranking to at least No. 16 with her success in Paris.
Another Montreal youngster, Francoise Abanda, won her opening round match in the Girls singles tournament at Roland Garros. Abanda defeated Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko 7-6(5), 6-4. If you remember, Bouchard became a household name when she won the Wimbledon Girls title in 2012.
Abanda is 17 years old and reached the third round of the Junior French Open last year. This year she is the tournament’s 10th seed.
There was a time where clay courts meant trouble for most Canadian tennis player but now, when the talent is arguably higher than it ever has been, the surface seems to matter less. For example, every Raonic point he becomes the Canadian male to reach the furthest at the French Open.
Both Bouchard and Raonic will play their quarterfinal match up tomorrow. The order of play for Tuesday has not yet been announced as of 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. Raonic will play Mo. 2 seed Novak Djokovic.