Eugenie Bouchard Set to 'Make History in Wimbledon Finals'
Eugenie Bouchard, a 20-year-old Montreal girl, has carved her name in Canadian history after becoming the first player to reach the final at Wimbledon.
Bouchard beat Simona Halep of Romania 7-6 (5), 6-2 to enter the final. When she arrives the court on July 5, she'll make history as the first Canadian ever to play in a Grand Slam finals.
Genie has grown as a player after her previous performance at Wimbledon in 2013 became phenomenal. She was simply another young player at the All-England Club back then. She was eliminated only in the third round. Since then, she has improved by leaps and bounds in the next few months. She entered the semi-finals at the French Open, the Australian Open and then Wimbledon in 2014. This was the first time she entered a Grand Slam finals and she did that by defeating a no. 3 player in straight sets.
Bouchard is yet drop a set in the tournament so far. If she continues the trend, she'll be the first Canadian tennis player to be holding the Venus Rosewater Dish. The task is not going to be easy, and nobody knows it better than Genie herself. She will face left-handed Petra Kvitova who won the title in 2011.
Bouchard has earlier been told of not being mature enough to handle big match scenarios. Her loss in the semi-finals at the Australian Open against Li Na and at the French Open against Maria Sharapova raised a few queries.
On the contrary, Bouchard's reaction after beating Halep was strikingly mature and professional. She smiled, shook hands with her opponent, signed a few autographs and left the court.
It seemed like she had been winning since ages, and it was no surprise that she won it again. It became more evident from her post-match interview that she, like her game, had grown as a person enormously.
She said her performance in the tournament came as no surprise as she had been working hard. She also spoke like a champion. It will be interesting to see if she can make history on July 5 if she wins the title.
Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au