SHARAPOVA GOES DOWN TO BOUCHARD IN BITTER CONTEST AT MADRID OPEN
MADRID:Eugenie Bouchard beat Maria Sharapova for the first time in her career soon after calling the former world No 1 a “cheat er” to setup a meeting with Angelique K er ber, while Ana stasija Se vast ova shocked Karolina Pliskova at the Madrid Open.
Eugenie Bouchard recently stated that she believes Maria Shara po va’ s tennis career should have been over when she failed a drugs test at the Australian Open last year.
CANDIDINTERVIEW
All eyes were on the Spanish capital when the two met less than a fortnight after that candid interview with the 2014 Wimbledon runner-up, who raised her game to defeat the former world number one 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 in a secondround thriller. Top seed Kerber earlier made hard work of seeing off Katerina Siniakova 6-2 1-6 7-5 to ensure she will return to the top of the rankings in the absence of the pregnant Serena Williams, but second seed Pliskova went down6-36-3tothe22-rankedLatvian Sevastova.
FIRED-UPBOUCHARD
Bouchard let her feelings be known in no uncertain terms when asked about Sharapova’s return to the circuit last month.
And the Canadian made anotherhugeon-courtstatement on Monday, showing great spirit and plenty of class to topple the five-time grand slam champion. Shara po va had won their previous four meetings, but B ouch a rd looked to be back to something like her best as she showed flashed of brilliance to win a gripping showdown.