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Eugenie Bouchard beat Romanian Simona Halep to become Canada’s first Grand Slam singles finalist at Wimbledon. The 20-year-old from Montreal won 7-6 (7-5) 6-2, and will face 2011 champion Petra Kvitova in Saturday’s final.
Bouchard, seeded 13th, won the junior title in 2012 and reached the semi-finals at the first two Grand Slams of the year in Australia and France. The result means Bouchard will move into the world’s top 10 after Wimbledon, and there could be more good news for Canadian tennis tomorrow, when Milos Raonic plays Roger Federer in the men’s semi-finals.
Bouchard and Halep arrived in Thursday’s semi-final as the form players in Grand Slams in 2014, with 15 wins apiece, and their only previous meeting resulted in a tight three-set win for Halep in Indian Wells earlier this year.
Another close contest was expected, but the match took a decisive turn after just 15 minutes when Halep went over on her ankle as she moved out wide when facing break point in game four.
In the other semi-final played earlier in the afternoon, former champion Petra Kvitova saw off fellow Czech Lucie Safarova in straight sets to return to the Wimbledon final.
Kvitova, seeded sixth, won 7-6 (8-6) 6-1 in the first all-Czech semi-final at a Grand Slam.
“It was a tough match mentally because Lucie is a great friend of mine. I am just happy that I won,” Kvitova told BBC Sport.
Kvitova and Safarova are Fed Cup team-mates and train at the same club in Prostejov. At 24, Kvitova was the younger by three years, but the senior partner in terms of achievement.
After losing in her last two Grand Slam semi-finals, Kvitova ensured there would be no hat-trick of defeats as she raced to the finish line, angling away a backhand on match point before embracing her compatriot at the net. — BBC Sport.
Online Reporter