Eugenie Bouchard To Meet Maria Sharapova In French Open Semi-Final
By Jared Book
Eugenie Bouchard bounced back from 2-5 down in the opening set and a break in the third set to beat Carla Suarez Navarro 7-6(4), 2-6, 7-5 in her French Open quarterfinal.
Bouchard will now be the only woman to reach the semi-final in both the Australian and French Opens – the two Grand Slam events so far this season. The win in the quarterfinal was her 10th win in a row.
She will now face off against her childhood hero Maria Sharapova in the semi-final. Sharapova bounced back from a 1-6 first set to win her match 1-6 7-5 6-1 against Garbine Muguruza. Sharapova has beaten Bouchard both times they have faced off. They met in the first round of last year`s French Open.
Bouchard lost in straight sets to Li Na in the Australian Open semi-final. Na went on to win the tournament.
Bouchard is now guaranteed at least the No. 13 ranking in the world but can move up even higher should the right results go her way. For example, a win in the semi-final would mean a minimum ranking of No. 9.
Bouchard was down break in the third set, but managed to win two straight games to get the match to 4-4. Suarez Navarro then held serve to take a 5-4 lead. Bouchard then held her serve and broke Suarez Navarro’s serve to take a 6-4 lead and serve for the match. She needed three match points to eventually win the match.
Bouchard is the first Canadian woman to reach the semi-final at the French Open. It can be a record day for Canada as Milos Raonic is also attempting to continue is run. No Canadian male has ever gone as far as Raonic has in the French Open before.
In other Montrealer tennis news, Francois Abanda won her second round match to move to the third round of the French Open Girls Championship. She defeated Victoria Muntean of France in straight sets 6-2, 6-0. Abanda is the 10th seed.