Genie and Serena on the march
GENIE’S ARMY did not march in great numbers, but the heiress apparent to Maria Sharapova as the glamour queen of tennis took a significant step t owards t he queen of Wimbledon last night.
Should Eugenie Bouchard ultimately face Serena Williams in the fourth round, what a royal clash of generations it would be, pitting the 32-year-old winner of f i ve Wimbledon singles titles against a 20- year- old rapidly emerging as one of the biggest draws in the game.
Both women took positive strides yesterday, Williams battering Anna Tatishvili into a one-hour defeat with only three games wasted, while No 13 seed Bouchard won the pick of the first-round ties, scuffling past Daniela Hantuchova 7-5, 7-5.
By the standards of this Canadian — like her three siblings she was named after a royal — it was a muted performance. She is more familiar to whoops and wolf whistles from crowds, not to mention the shower of stuffed toys that tends to accompany her victories.
There are social networks dedicated to planning the movements of ‘Genie’s Army’ around Europe.
Not at the All England Club, though. ‘I saw a few single members of Genie Army — but it’s Wimbledon, so we’re a little bit more subdued here,’ she said last night, cradling a stuffed Cinderella. ‘Because I’m a princess,’ she explained. But generally the mood was heavier.
The woman with a soft touch and a hard streak — she has an on-court glare and fist-pump not dissimilar to Sharapova’s — was far from her best against a strong opponent. Hantuchova has fallen to No 35 in the world, but last year reached the quarter-finals of the US Open.
The Slovakian broke Bouchard three times and, indeed, led by a break in each set.
Bouchard, who won j unior Wimbledon on this court two years ago and has this year reached the semi-finals of the Australian and French Opens, added: ‘I definitely feel like I didn’t play my best most of the match, but I raised my level at some big points.’
Will i ams s howed no s uch weakness, winning 6-1, 6-2 and hitting 16 aces along the way.
It’s a month since she was dumped out of the French Open in t he s econd r ound but t he American yesterday showed more of the malevolence that has typified her game.
‘Wherever I slip, I try to get up,’ she said. ‘ That really, really motivates me.’
Elsewhere, Jelena Jankovic became t he hi ghest- profil e casualty, t he s eventh s eed losing 6-3, 6-2 to Kaia Kanepi.
Caroline Wozniacki, meanwhile, resumed and wrapped up her first-round match against Shahar Peer in less than a quarter of an hour after rain had interrupted play on Monday.
The Dane returned with a 6-3, 2-0 lead but crushed the Israeli, breaking in the first game back and taking the second set 6-0.
There was also a straightforward win for Sabine Lisicki, whose game fell apart in last year’s final. The 19th seed beat Julia Glushko 6-2, 6-1 on Centre Court, while third seed Simona Halep of Romania dropped only four games in seeing off Teliana Pereira 6-2, 6-2.