Kuznetsova Outlasts Bouchard in Portugal
The quarterfinals of the Portgual Open began on Thursday morning as a clash between young and old headlined the round in Oerias, Portugal. Former French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova battled with the young Canadian Eugene Bouchard, who was the second seed in the tournament, for the first time in the two player’s careers. The Russian Kuznetsova outdueled her counterpart 6-4, 6-1 to advance into the semifinals.
The 19-year old Bouchard raced out of the gate to seemingly control the match early as she found herself up 4-1 through the first five games. However, being the experience player that she is, Kuznetsova did not get flustered and stormed back. She won 11 of the next 12 games and quickly seized control of the match following her slow start.
After running away with the first set, Kuznetsova never looked back and won the final four games of the second set to secure the victory. She lost just six points in those four games as the 29-year old Russian dictated the play. She used a powerful serve to increase her lead, holding a higher first serve and second serve percentage than the second-seeded Bouchard.
“It took me a little bit of time to get used to this court because it is much slower than the court I played on yesterday,” said Kuznetsova, who won the U.S. Open in 2004 and the French Open in 2009. “It was very even games early on too, but I started hitting more spin, running more and putting more balls back, and I played better and better as the match went on.”
Kuznetsova now moves on to semifinals where she will face the winner of Russian Elena Vesnina and Italy’s Roberta Vinci, who play later on today.
