LONDON -- Canadas Eugenie Bouchard stumbled in her first two Grand Slam
semifinal appearances this year.
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. The third time proved to be the charm Thursday at the All England Club.
Bouchard defeated Romanias Simona Halep 7-6 (5), 6-2 to become the first
Canadian to advance to the womens singles final at Wimbledon. It was the latest
achievement in what has already been a historic run for Bouchard at the sports
most prestigious event. "After doing well in the past few (Grand) Slams, Ive
been believing since the beginning of the tournament that I can do really well,"
she said. "Im just trying to take it one match at a time. Its really important
not to get ahead of ourselves. "I totally feel like I belong, and Im just so
excited for the next match." The 20-year-old from Westmount, Que., has yet to
lose a set in her six matches so far at Wimbledon. No Canadian had ever reached
the womens singles quarter-finals here in the Open era -- never mind the final
-- before Bouchard. There could be a Canadian in the mens singles final as well.
Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., will take on Switzerlands Roger Federer on
Friday with a berth in Sundays championship on the line. This is uncharted
territory for Canadian tennis. Before this tournament, no Canadian had ever
reached a mens or womens Grand Slam singles final, according to Tennis Canada.
The last Canadian to reach a singles semifinal at a major was Robert Powell at
Wimbledon in 1908, the organization said. Montreal native Greg Rusedski reached
the U.S. Open final in 1997 but he was representing Great Britain at that time.
The 13th-seeded Bouchard, who converted her sixth match point to complete the
94-minute victory, will next face sixth-seeded Petra Kvitova on Saturday. "To
get to my first Grand Slam final, its very exciting. Its what Ive worked so long
for, you know," Bouchard said. "So Im just proud of myself for todays effort."
Kvitova, the 2011 Wimbledon champion, beat fellow Czech left-hander Lucie
Safarova 7-6 (6), 6-1 in the early semifinal. Bouchard lost in the semifinals at
the years two previous majors, the Australian Open and French Open. Shes
projected to rise to No. 7 -- the highest ranking for a Canadian woman -- by
reaching the final and would go to No. 6 by winning the championship. Bouchard
would also be the youngest Grand Slam champion since Maria Sharapova won the
2006 U.S. Open at age 19. "Ive put in a lot of hard work and its been kind of
years in the making to me," Bouchard said. "So I believe in myself and I expect
good results. Ive had a good start to the season, but I expect myself to do even
better than that." In a semifinal that was delayed twice in the first set --
first by a left ankle injury to Halep, and then when a woman spectator fell ill
during the tiebreaker -- Halep double-faulted on break point in the second set
and then was broken again by Bouchard to give the Canadian a 4-1 lead. The
third-seeded Halep, who saved three match points in the seventh game and two
more in the final game, appeared to be increasingly affected by her ankle injury
and looked down at her feet several times after hitting shots. "It was difficult
to continue ... I felt a big pain in the moment, but then was better with the
tape," Halep said. "But still, I couldnt push anymore with my leg. My first
serve was really bad after that." On Bouchards first match point, Halep hit an
ace, but Bouchard did not appear ready to receive, and she went to speak with
chair umpire Kader Nouni. But the point stood and Bouchard failed to clinch the
match. "When Simona tossed I heard someone scream in the crowd," Bouchard said.
"It had happened a few times already. This time I didnt feel prepared to return,
so I put my hand up. I felt like we should have replayed the point, but he said,
no, it was her point. Just happy I kept my focus and didnt get distracted." The
tiebreaker was delayed briefly when the female spectator became ill. With Halep
leading 3-2, Nouni jumped from his chair to alert security officials to the
womans illness and told both players to go to their sideline chairs.
Temperatures on Centre Court were 25 degrees Celsius under sunny skies.
Following a delay of about five minutes and after the woman was escorted from
the seating area by medical staff, the tiebreaker resumed. The woman returned to
her seat later in the match after treatment. Halep had never been past the third
round at a Grand Slam until last year, when she made it to the fourth round at
the U.S. Open. Then she reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open in
January, and got to the final at the French Open last month, losing to
Sharapova. In the first semifinal, Kvitova -- the only womens player born in the
1990s to have won a major title -- improved her record to 25-5 on the Wimbledon
grass. The 24-year-old has made at least the quarter-finals for five years in a
row. "I know how (it feels) when you hold the trophy so I really want to win my
second title here and I will do everything I can," Kvitova said. She saved her
best for last: Up to 6-all in the tiebreaker, Safarova had won more total
points, 40-39. From there, though, Kvitova won 31 of the last 48 points in the
match. Kvitova beat Bouchard 6-3, 6-2 in their only previous meeting, a
second-round match at the Rogers Cup in Toronto last August. "I find her as a
very solid and talented player," Kvitova said. "She is confident in her game
right now. Shes moving very well ... shes playing aggressively." After sealing
the victory, Bouchard appeared pleased with her performance but kept the
jubilation to a minimum. "Its not like a surprise to me -- I expect good results
like this," she said. "So for me, I was like, OK good. Its a step in the right
direction. I get to play in the final and I still have another match so its not
a full celebration yet." Bouchard is the only woman to have advanced to all
three Grand Slam semifinals this year. The 2012 Wimbledon junior champion said
shes proud to be the first Canadian to make it this far in the tournament. "Its
always exciting and special when I can make history," she said. "My job is not
done, I want to go another step further. So Im going to stay focused and enjoy
it after." Also Thursday, Vasek Pospisil of Vancouver and American Jack Sock
upset the second-seeded duo of Alexander Peya of Austria and Bruno Soares of
Brazil in mens doubles quarter-final play. The third-seeded team of Torontos
Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia dropped a 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 6-4
decision to fifth seeds Leander Paes of India and Radek Stepanek of the Czech
Republic. Top-seeded Novak Djokovic will play Grigor Dimitrov in the other mens
semifinal Friday. The final is scheduled for Sunday.
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. Lineup news, Fantasy tips and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking.
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