Canadian Upstart Bouchard to Meet Li in Australian Open Semis
Canadian teenager Eugenie Bouchard has upset Ana Ivanovic to advance to the semifinals of the 2014 Australian Open, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2. Bouchard won the Wimbledon Junior title in 2012, and is fairly new on the WTA Tour, making her Grand Slam debut at the 2013 French Open. Ivanovic caused the biggest upset to date at the Aussie Open by defeating the top-seeded Serena Williams over the weekend.
“I think it was really just staying with her, battling,” said Bouchard after defeating Ivanovic. “I played her once last year. I feel like she's playing at a much higher level right now. I know she won a tournament early this year. She was playing really well. I just had to stay with her, try to control the point a little bit more. I think late in the second set I decided to use my forehand a little bit more and I think that worked well.”
Up next for Bouchard is a semifinals meeting with the number four seed, Li Na, a 6-2, 6-2 winner over Flavia Pennetta. Li lost in the 2011 and 2013 Aussie Open finals to Kim Clijsters and Victoria Azarenka respectively and also reached the Australian Open semis in 2010. Li has dropped only four games in each of her most recent two matches against Ekaterina Makarova and Pennetta after coming back from match point down to defeat Czech Lucie Safarova in the third round.
"I prepared at least one and a half days for this match," Li said. "I knew she was going to be a tough opponent – I had played her four times before, and every time was tough. But I don't really know what happened today. I just played really well. I just prepared really well before I came to the court. I'm really happy. Everyone wants to win a Grand Slam, but you have to be in the semis first, right?"
The remaining two semifinalists will be determined later today in Melbourne as Simona Halep of Romania, the number 11 seed, faces the 20 seed, Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, and the fifth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland faces the number two seed, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.
