ROARING INTO NEXT ROUND
‘It’s definitely up there,’ she says of match avenging Wimbledon loss
Westmount’s Eugenie Bouchard dominated Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova Wednesday night at Jarry Tennis Centre, easily advancing to the third round. Pat Hickey has details.
An aggressive Eugenie Bouchard needed only 74 minutes to bash her way into the third round of the Rogers Cup women’s tennis championships with a 6-2, 6-0 win over 11th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia.
Bouchard never let Cibulkova breathe as she avenged a straightset loss to the Slovak last month at Wimbledon.
Bouchard broke Cibulkova’s serve to open the match and had another break in the fifth game to seal the first set.
“Actually she was playing the game I was supposed to play, but I just made some mistakes in the beginning,” said Cibulkova. “We are all such great players, so very small differences (count). When one of us gets confident on the court, then you can see it as you could see it today. It was the other way around in Wimbledon.”
Bouchard said it was one of her best matches since her magical 2014 season when she cracked the top 10 in the WTA Tour rankings.
“Game-wise I think it’s definitely up there,” said Bouchard. “Obviously I also love the matches where I win in a crazy tough third set like (Tuesday against Lucie Safarova). But I felt very solid. I think I didn’t make too many unforced errors. I was playing how I want to play against someone who’s very hot right now. She’s done very well recently. I’m proud of that.
“I’ve been training hard since Wimbledon; I mean, all the time,” she said. “(I’m) really trying to improve my game. Just days of practice gives me confidence. Even though Washington didn’t go well, I felt like I improved my game. Coming here, having that crowd support, believing that people believe in me. Whether they really do, I don’t know. But feeling it on the court does honestly give you a boost. I just try to use it all in a positive way.”
It was all Bouchard in the second set once she got past the second game.
Bouchard again scored a break in the opening game of the set, but Cibulkova made her last stand in the next game. Bouchard fell behind 15-40 on her serve and Cibulkova had five break points before Bouchard persevered.
“That was huge,” said Bouchard. “If she broke me there, it might have been a different match.”
With the win, Bouchard is in an excellent position to reach the Rogers Cup quarterfinals for the first time in six tries. Her next opponent is Kristina Kucova, a qualifier from Slovakia who is No. 121 in the rankings. Kucova surprised eighth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
“I’ve never played her and it’s unusual for an experienced player like me not to know anything about my opponent,” said Bouchard. “I’ll rely on my coaches for some guidance and then I have to play my game.”
The only other Canadian to reach the second round, Françoise Abanda of Montreal, lost to 17th-seeded Elina Svitolina 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3) but she learned a valuable lesson this week.
“I learned that I can definitely compete against top-30 girls,” said Abanda, who beat China’s Saisai Zheng in the first round.
“I believe Svitolina, my opponent today, was top 20. I was, like, very, very close to winning both tiebreakers, but lost unfortunately. But I think it’s good to see that I’m right there.”
While there’s a two-year age difference and a wide gap in their rankings — Svitolina is No. 20 on the WTA Tour rankings and Abanda is No. 272 — they were once junior rivals.
Svitolina defeated Abanda in three sets at the Wimbledon junior event in 2012 and Wednesday’s match showed that the 19-year-old Canadian can hang in there against a top-ranked player.
The difference in this match was in the tiebreakers. When it came to the key points, Svitolina was able to find another gear.
This was a match that featured more errors than winners and both players struggled to win their serve. Each player held serve six times and was broken six times. Svitolina faced a break point six times and lost each one of them while Abanda saved 11 of the 17 break points she faced.
Abanda said her first serve let her down and she compounded the problem by easing up on her second serve, giving Svitolina chances to tee off on her returns.
“When your first serve isn’t going in, you lose confidence in your second serve,” said Abanda. “You’re trying not to double-fault. I was really trying to put my second serve in, at least, because my first serve was just not there.”
Abanda said her results have been just average leading up to the Rogers Cup, but she’s hoping the confidence will carry over into her results over the next two weeks. She’s playing Challenger level events in Granby and Gatineau where she is unlikely to run into any top-30 players.
Second-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany rallied to beat Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the second night match after Bouchard’s.
Daria Kasatkina of Russia defeated 13th-seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia 7-6 (1), 6-3.
Venus Williams, the sixth seed from the U.S., didn’t waste any time as she defeated Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-0 and fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland defeated Monica Niculescu of Romania 6-1, 7-5.
Karolina Pliskova, the 14th-seeded Czech, had the easiest path to the round of 16 when her opponent, Italian Sara Errani, withdrew with a back injury.
Seventh-seeded Roberta Vinci defeated Camila Giorgi 2-6, 6-23, 6-4 in an all-Italian affair.
THURSDAY’S TOP MATCHES
Genie Bouchard is back on the stadium court and she’ll be favoured to beat qualifier Kristina Kucova in the second match of the evening session.
Younger sister Serena has more titles and the No. 1 ranking, but Venus Williams plays tennis with a classical grace. She opens the evening session against fellow America Madison Keys.
For something completely different, wander out to Court 9 a little after 1 p.m. and watch the top women’s doubles team in the world — Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza. They’ll play Naomi Broady and Shelby Rogers.