Genie’s problems go from bad to worse
Struggling Bouchard pretty much gives up as Canada loses tie to Romania
“I’m having the sophomore slump you guys are all talking about, so I’ll leave it at that . . . there are worse things in life.” EUGENIE BOUCHARD
MONTREAL— In the end, Françoise Abanda couldn’t do it all by herself.
But the 18-year-old from Montreal, in only her second Fed Cup tie, very nearly brought the Canadians to a deciding doubles match in their World Group playoff tie at the Maurice Richard Arena on Sunday. Abanda was two games away from doing just that, up 6-4, 4-2 against Alexandra Dulgheru in the fourth singles match. She ran out of gas, not a surprising development after her draining victory over world No. 33 Irina-Camelia Begu on Saturday. Dulgheru finally found her rhythm after struggling early to make the adjustment from the harder-struck ball she faced when she defeated Genie Bouchard on Friday.
Dulgheru’s 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory clinched the tie for Romania, which will move into the top level of Fed Cup, the eight-nation World Group I, for the first time in decades.
“I was definitely the underdog. I’m the lowest-ranked out of the eight girls here, and the youngest. I gave it everything I had, I gave my full effort and I just hope every girl gave her100 per cent,” Abanda said. “If that’s the case, there’s nothing more we could have done.
“I played one tough match (Saturday) and I had another big challenge today. I can’t say I was in top shape in the third set,” Abanda added. “But I give credit to my opponent. I gave my 100 per cent and she won it, so it just wasn’t enough. I’ll have to work harder.”
Before Abanda’s effort, top Canadian Genie Bouchard had a terrific opportunity to give Canada a 2-1 lead. Instead, she suffered arguably the worst of the losses that have become a bad habit the last few months.
In Andreea Mitu, who substituted for Begu, the Canadian star faced a player currently at a career-best No. 104. The 23-year-old has won plenty of tennis matches in places like Curi- tiba and Cancinas and Jou-les-Tours and Podgorica and Mamaia and Woking and Trnava, but won her first-ever main-draw match at a WTA Tour event just two weeks ago in Charleston.
“I’m having the sophomore slump you guys are all talking about, so I’ll leave it at that,” Bouchard said. “I might have lost my focus a little bit (in the second set) and it all started going downhill.
“I really don’t have an explanation. I can’t win every match. That’s five in a row that I’ve lost, yes, but there are worse things in life.”
Bouchard squeezed out the first set, somehow. And then, it was as though she took elements from all of her other tough losses this winter and put them all in one place.
There were the clusters of unforced errors, too many born of impatience and lack of confidence. There were tears. There were the racquet tosses and racquet bounces and anxious glances at her support team.
But the worst part, a new wrinkle, was the resignation — Bouchard flatout gave up.
By the end, she didn’t even move for some of the shots from an untested opponent who, albeit in rather different style, very much did what Bouchard herself was doing when she was playing her best tennis a year ago.
Mitu was going for broke on a lot of shots (some of her second serves were hit harder than many of Bouchard’s first serves). And she was connecting.
The doubles was played despite the outcome of the tie no longer being in doubt. Canada’s Sharon Fichman and Gabriela Dabrowski prevailed over Mitu and Raluca Olaru 6-1, 4-6, (10-5).
When they play Fed Cup again in 2015, Canada will join the U.S., Australia, Poland, Serbia and Belarus, among others in World Group II. Given the quality of the top players from most of those nations, it will be no easier a task.