Canadians Abanda and Bouchard set to play opening singles matches in Fed Cup tie
MONTREAL Eugenie Bouchard says she just wants to play some matches and enjoy being part of a team again.
Canada’s Fed Cup team hopes she can also rediscover at least some of the form that propelled her to the 2014 Wimbledon final and a fifth-place world ranking.
The Canadian squad will be under pressure to defeat favoured Ukraine when the countries meet Saturday and Sunday on the indoor hardcourt at IGA Stadium in a best-of-five World Group II playoff series. The winner stays in World Group II next year while the loser drops to zonal play.
Bouchard, of Westmount, Que., has plunged to 117th in the world after a run of disappointing seasons in which she has sometimes appeared to be more interested in offcourt activities than in tennis. She is 4-6 in WTA singles play this year.
“I’m trying to work,” Bouchard said Friday as the teams took part in the draw of opponents at a downtown hotel. “You can’t always make finals of grand slams every single year, so you’ve got to keep working until it clicks again. That’s where I’m at.”
Bouchard will face veteran Kateryna Bondarenko in the second singles match on Saturday after Francoise Abanda of Montreal opens against Lesia Tsurenko. They will swap singles opponents on Sunday, while Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa and Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., will play doubles if a fifth and deciding match is needed.
This time, at least, Bouchard shook hands with Bondarenko, which she famously refused to do twice before with opponents at Fed Cup draws.