Kuznetsova halts Bouchard’s Madrid run
Eugenie Bouchard’s winning streak came to a screeching halt on Thursday as she lost 6-4, 6-0 to Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarter-finals of the Madrid Masters.
The Westmount native had reached the quarter-finals by defeating Alizé Cornet of France, Russian Maria Sharapova and then German Angelique Kerber, who withdrew in the third round.
Kuznetsova broke Bouchard’s serve four times in the match, with three breaks coming in the second set. The tournament’s eighth seed needed only one hour and 17 minutes to beat Bouchard and owns a 3-0 career record against her.
The Russian recorded 28 winners, with only seven unforced errors. Bouchard struggled to control Kuznetsova’s heavy groundstrokes and managed only 12 winners, while committing 13 errors.
Kuznetsova will next face French ace Kristina Mladenovic, who overcame seven double faults to defeat Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 6-4.
In other matches, Romania’s Simona Halep reached the semifinals by crushing American Coco Vandeweghe 6-1, 6-1 in less than an hour.
Halep will next play Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova, who defeated Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-3.
On the men’s side, Canada’s Milos Raonic was easily beaten 6-4, 6-2 by ninth-seeded David Goffin of Belgium.
Raonic, the 26-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., was playing in his second tournament since trying to play through a hamstring injury at the Masters series event in Miami in March. He originally hurt himself in the final of the event in Delray Beach, Fla., in late February. Raonic had only five aces and put only 49 per cent of his first serves in play. His serve was broken four times.
Goffin will face four-time champ Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals. Nadal picked up his tour leading 31st victory this year by crushing 16th-seeded Nick Kyrgios 6-3, 6-1.
Andy Murray’s struggles continued with a 6-3, 6-3 loss to Borna Coric in the third round, while defending champion Novak Djokovic made it to the quarter-finals.
Djokovic defeated Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 7-5. He’ll next play against sixth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan.
The top-ranked Murray was outplayed by the 20-year-old Croatian in losing his fifth match of the year. Murray has won only one tournament this season and hasn’t made it past the semifinals in the three clay-court tournaments he’s played.
The 59th-ranked Coric became the first lucky loser to reach the quarter-finals in Madrid. He only made it to the main draw after Richard Gasquet withdrew because of a back injury.
Coric will play Dominic Thiem of Austria in the quarter-final.