TENNIS WIMBLEDON 2014 – Eugenie Bouchard knocked out Cornet in the Round of 16 to make it to her first Wimbledon quarterfinals 7-65 7-5 in almost 2-hour battle. This win puts Bouchard into her third successive major quarterfinals; the only player on the WTA tour to do so this year. Cordell Hackshaw
Results, Order of Play, Draws and Interviews from The Championships
Last Saturday, after beating world’s number one Serena Williams, Alizé Cornet (25) was asked about her upcoming match against Eugenie Bouchard (13). Cornet responded by saying, “I will think about it tomorrow, think maybe about a different tactic to have against her. But right now I really want to enjoy my win.” Perhaps in hindsight, she would have thought differently about this answer or perhaps began a plan of attack sooner. Bouchard knocked out Cornet in the Round of 16 to make it to her first Wimbledon quarterfinals 7-65 7-5 in almost 2-hour battle. This win puts Bouchard into her third successive major quarterfinals; the only player on the WTA tour to do so this year.
It was clear from the onset of this match that Cornet and Bouchard were in top gear. They were not going to hold back one bit. They both had to save break points in their opening service game. They remained on serve until the 5th game when rain interrupted play. The players had to leave Centre Court in order to close the roof. They returned to court some 30 minutes later and continued to hold serve to 6-6. In the decisive tiebreak, Cornet won the first point but Bouchard won the next 4 points maintaining her aggressive style of play; 4-1. In an attempt to further extend this lead, Bouchard dropped the next two points on her serve and Cornet won her two points on her serve to lead 5-4. Cornet had the chance to go up 6-4 but played a poor drop shot that never went over the net. Bouchard scored an ace to go up 6-5. The pressure was now on Cornet to win the next point but she cracked and Bouchard took the set 7-65.
Cornet looked spent after that set but remained altogether optimistic in the 2nd set. She broke Bouchard in the 5th game and consolidated for a 4-2 lead. Bouchard was over hitting and constantly looking for openings to go for the winner but she was not getting a look on the Cornet’s serve. Bouchard later explained, “She has good wheels. So I had to really try and finish off the point.” Now, Cornet was serving for the 2nd set 5-4. In Cornet’s previous match against Williams, she had trouble closing out the 2nd and 3rd sets but in those sets, she had a double break advantage. However, this time around, she was only up on Bouchard by one break.
Bouchard recognized that the moment was now for a break and soon broke when Cornet’s forehand missed the mark. “I had full belief and confidence in myself that, you know, I wasn’t out. The second set wasn’t over yet. I just tried to focus on my serve at 5-3. I played some good points at 5-4 … I was able to step up on the important moments,” Bouchard said after the match. Within a few minutes, Cornet went from serving for the set at 5-4 to now serving to stay in the match down 5-6. Bouchard continued to apply the pressure on the Cornet forehand and it soon paid dividend. Another errant forehand went long and Bouchard took the match 7-65 7-5 and moved into the quarterfinals, her first at Wimbledon.
“I’m proud that I really, really fought till the end. She’s a good fighter, too. We were really just battling,” Bouchard later stated. It was a high quality match and both players definitely showing the better parts of their games. They had a healthy service percentage. The areas of real noticeable differences were the winners to errors ratios as well as the net approaches. Bouchard stood closer to the baseline than Williams did against Cornet. Therefore, Cornet was not able to go for as many drop shots and acute angles as she had done in the previous round. Consider that against Williams, she won 14/16 net points and won two sets but against Bouchard, she won 11/16 net points and did not win any of the sets. Bouchard was only able to win 12/20 net points. However, Bouchard style of play had her ending the match with 28 winners and 24 errors compared to Cornet with 20 winners and 14 errors. Bouchard will face the winner of the Maria Sharapova (5) v Angelique Kerber (9) match for a place in the semifinals. Bouchard incidentally, is the only player on the WTA tour to have made it to the final four for the first two majors. She most certainly would be looking for the three-peat.
