Bouchard Rolls Past Halep to Reach First Grand Slam Final
Eugenie Bouchard defeated Simona Halep 7-6(5), 6-2 on Thursday to advance to her first ever Grand Slam final. The 20-year old Canadian has not lost a set in her last six matches and will take on 2011 champion Petra Kvitova in the finals.
The match was delayed twice throughout the first set, with neither coming because of bad weather. Halep had an ankle injury that required treatment which was followed by a woman spectator falling ill, both causing minor delays.
After the four-minute delay for the spectator which came with Halep up 3-2 in the tiebreaker, Bouchard stormed back to take the tiebreaker and seize the opening set.
As is the case in most matches, the player who wins a first set in a tiebreaker grabs momentum entering the second, and this is exactly what happened to Bouchard. She jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the second following a double-fault from Halep, and held serve in the next game to put her up 5-1.
The third-seeded Romanian would not go quietly as she saved four match points before Bouchard eventually closed it out with a fantastic serve.
“It was a little crazy—I’ve never really ended a match like that,” said Bouchard. “I’m just happy I kept my focus and didn’t get distracted or anything and played well in the last game.”
Bouchard is one of the rising stars in the game and has reached the semifinals of each of the three major tournaments so far this year, and is only the sixth player since 2000 to complete that feat.
She will meet Kvitova in the finals after the Czech cruised past Lucie Safarova earlier in the day. Bouchard, who is the youngest player currently in the Top 20, became the first Canadian to reach the Wimbledon semis and will look to make a little more history when she plays in the title match.
“I’m really excited,” said Bouchard. “I have a day off tomorrow and I can’t wait to play. It’s my first Grand Slam final so I’m just going to go for it. I’ll probably have my toughest match yet and I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
