Eugenie Bouchard of Canada returns the ball to Alisa Kleybanova of Russia during their first-round match at the Portugal Open tennis tournament in Estoril yesterday. (EPA)
AFP/Estoril, Portugal
Second seed Eugenie Bouchard reached a European clay quarter-final for the second time in her career as the Canadian defeated Yaroslava Shvedova 6-4, 6-2 at the ATP-WTA Portugal Open yesterday.
The 20-year-old debutante at the Jamor Sports Complex, ranked 18th, won the last four games of the opening set from 2-4 down and had to keep up the fight in the second set to ease past the 65th-ranked Kazakh in a first-time meeting.
Bouchard played a clay semi-final at Strasbourg in 2013 and also reached the semi-finals on American green clay three weeks ago in Charleston, a completely different surface.
She saved seven of nine break points against her serve, broke five times and benefitted from six double-faults from Shvedova in 87 minutes on court.
The final game of the opening set was a marathon, comprising seven deuces.
“I just tried to stay positive and get through it,” said Bouchard. “I began playing more steady in the second set. It’s important to control the points against her big shots. She can hit really big balls and we were fighting a lot today.”
Next up for Bouchard is Russian seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2009 Roland Garros winner, who booked her spot with a win over Spain’s Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor 5-7, 6-4, 6-1.
Italian fourth seed Roberta Vinci showed lethal form, winning the first 10 games in a 6-0, 6-2 hammering of 2009 title-holder Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium. It was the sixth straight win for Vinci over Wickmayer, who last beat her in 2010 on hardcourt.
“I played a great first game today,” said the winner. “The match score might have looked easy but it was tough on court. We had difficult conditions with the wind, but I played well. I was focused and she was making a lot of errors. I saved a lot of break points in the second set so I’m happy with my play.”
Swiss qualifier Timea Bacsinszky, ranked 165th, continued her surge of form with a defeat of Tunisian Ons Jabeur 7-5, 6-0. The victory came a day after Bacsinszky earned one of her biggest career wins with a knockout of 2010 French Open finalist Samantha Stosur in the first round.
NO COMING BACK FROM RETIREMENT, SAYS BARTOLI
Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli will play the Liverpool grasscourt exhibition event in June but insists she has no plans to make a full-time comeback to the sport.
The 29-year-old Frenchwoman, who was a shock champion at Wimbledon last year, quit the sport just a month after, blaming the toll the Tour was taking. Despite agreeing to sign up for the pre-Wimbledon exhibition event to be staged at Liverpool University from June 19-22, Bartoli said it would be a one-off appearance.
When asked about a full-time comeback, Bartoli told the British Press Association, “It’s not going to happen. Tennis is still my passion but I have other passions and they take a lot of work and dedication. I’m going to be 30 years old later this year and my body is extremely tired. I never had a feeling of maybe I didn’t make the right decision. I’m moving on with my life. When I think about my tennis career it brings me pure happiness and pride but I don’t feel I’m missing out.”