Eugenie Bouchard of Canada smiles as she hits a ball into the crowd after defeating Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic after their women's singles match at the 2014 U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York August 30, 2014. REUTERS/Adam Hunger
Rising star Eugenie Bouchard lost to Ekaterina Makarova in the fourth round. Bouchard has reportedly pocketed $187,000 from the tournament. She currently ranks eight in WTA world rankings. REUTERS

Some of the winners in the 2014 WTA Awards have been revealed on Nov. 18. Canadian tennis star Eugenie Bouchard, Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic, and 32-year-old Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni have received recognition at the prestigious annual awards in women's tennis.

Eugenie Bouchard - Most Improved Player

Bouchard has leaped from the 46th place in the world rankings in 2013 to her career-high singles rank at 5th place this season. She ended her season ranked 7th in the world. She has reached the semifinals of two of the four Grand Slam tournaments (Australian Open and French Open), and even made as far as the finals of Wimbledon in 2014. She has also qualified to compete in the season-ending tournament at the WTA Finals in Singapore.

According to Bouchard, she is honoured to be named WTA's Most Improved Player. She also hopes to keep improving in her craft.

"My goal is to try to improve every single day, and I feel like I did that this year," Bouchard told WTA's official site. "But while I'm proud of my accomplishments, I've already set new goals I want to strive to reach next year."

Belinda Bencic - Newcomer Of The Year

Swiss teenager Bencic has been named as WTA's Newcomer of the Year. The 17-year-old has climbed up the world rankings from the 212th place in 2013 to 32nd place this season. The highlight of her 2014 season is her quarterfinal run at the US Open. Bencic has defeated top 10 players Angelique Kerber and Jelena Jankovic.

Bencic said that she is privileged to have been voted. She added that she hopes to be able to find success in the upcoming season.

Mirjana Lucic-Baroni - Comeback Of The Year

Lucic-Baroni ended her season ranked 60th in the world. Her US Open run has been quite pleasant, beating the likes of World No. 3 Simona Halep and Italian No. 2 Sara Errani.

Speaking about the accolade, Lucic-Baroni said she is humbled to be voted for the award. She thanked everyone who had supported her. She said she is also looking forward to the 2015 season and hopes to be able to achieve good results.

The winner of the coveted WTA Player of the Year Award will be announced on Nov. 21. The nominees are Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Li Na, Petra Kvitova, Ana Ivanovic, and Simona Halep. Tennis fans still get to vote for the favourite tennis icon to win the award.

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