Eugenie Bouchard Advances To Semis Of Wuhan Open

It was not the greatest summer for Eugenie Bouchard.

She followed up an appearance at the Wimbledon final with a loss in her opening match in her hometown Montreal at the Rogers Cup, lost in her first match in Cincinnati, and went 1-1 in New Haven before making the Round of 16 at the US Open.

But, in her first tournament since the final Grand Slam of the year, and time to rest and train, she is back on track. She has reached the semi-finals in Wuhan, China.

After a first round bye as the No. 6 seed, she defeated Mona Barthel in three sets after losing the first, and including her two matches since – against Alison Riske and Alize Cornet – has won six straight sets.

She will now face No. 8 seed Caroline Wozniacki in the semi-final tomorrow and has the possibility of another battle with Petra Kvitova – who beat her in the Wimbledon final – in the final.

There is still work for Bouchard to do, but it would be fitting if her rough patch came to and end the way it started.

And isn’t it funny how standards have changed. At this time last year, Bouchard was fighting for a spot in the top 30. Now, shes in the Top 10 and we’re talking about a rough patch. The problem with great results comes with greater expectations.

You can’t expect a 20 year old to have everything figured out and be a model of consistency, but she is already one of the best – if not the best – female singles player to ever come out of Canada. You also have to think that all of those matches that came with the success she was having had taken a toll on her body.

The semi-final match is scheduled for tomorrow.