Bouchard pays for snub, but 18-year-old surprises
MONTREAL— Canada and Romania are tied1-1at the end of the first day of their Fed Cup World Group playoff tie at the Maurice Richard Arena.
It was the outcome most would have predicted, the likeliest scenario going into Sunday’s reverse singles and — if it’s all tied at 2-2, a deciding doubles to follow that.
But the journey to that result took a lot of unmarked roads and potholed side streets. There was no way to predict that 18-year-old Françoise Abanda, currently ranked No. 260 and the sixth-highest ranked singles player in Canada, would upset world No. 33 Irina-Camelia Begu.
But she did, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in two hours and 40 minutes. It was by far Abanda’s finest win in terms of the ranking of her opponent. And it was by far the most unexpected result of the day.
“Although she felt a little bit of discomfort (Begu’s calf was cramping at times during the last hour of the match), she fought hard. I was just happy to get through it, and get my first win in Fed Cup in Montreal — in my hometown,” Abanda said.
As for No. 1 Canadian Genie Bouchard, the last-minute addition to the Canadian squad . . . well, karma sort of came back and bit her in the backhand.
The 21-year-old lost yet another match during her spring of discontent, 6-4, 6-4 to 25-year-old Alexandra Dulgheru, an experienced player whose former top-30 ranking was decimated by several years of injuries and is just finding her form again.
“It wasn’t a great performance tennis-wise, but I fought for every single point. I feel where I’m coming from, it was the step in the right direction,” Bouchard said.
The match was an unexpected opportunity to give Canada a daunting 2-0 lead after the first day.
“I’m happy (Abanda) won. Her tennis and mine have nothing to do with each other, but I wish I could have helped the team to get another point,” Bouchard said. “But it just didn’t happen that way, so I’m not going to worry too much about it.”
Dulgheru was the player left hanging at Friday’s draw ceremony, her right arm extended to shake Bouchard’s in the traditional Fed Cup gesture of friendship between nations. Bouchard announced she would “pass.” Red-faced and slightly embarrassed, Dulgheru later said it was an awkward moment.
Bouchard responded it was “nothing personal,” simply that she didn’t believe in wishing good luck to her opponent before a match. It was a scenario that first occurred a year ago in Fed Cup, in a similar tie against the Slovaks, and surprisingly repeated itself here after all the negative fallout that happened then.
The Romanian returned the favour with interest Saturday where it mat- tered, on the court. She was solid, steady and nicely motivated.
“The thing about Fed Cup is that it’s a spirit kind of competition, and it’s about fair play, and about all those good values. Doing (what Bouchard did) goes a bit in contradiction with those values. It was a bit awkward, so maybe that motivates me a bit more,” said Dulgheru, who ran over to her teammates and support staff after the victory. They all put their arms out to shake — only to pull them away at the last moment.
The meaning of that was lost on absolutely no one.
“Yes, it was a bit of a response to what Genie did. But it was a bit more of our joke,” Dulgheru said.
“So, nothing personal.”