By Alberto Amalfi | Saturday, January 24, 2015

 

Eugenie Bouchard won nine of the first 10 games, then rebounded from a second-set lapse to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals.

Photo credit: corleve

Eugenie Bouchard launched a wild error then plopped down on a linesman's seat to take a quick break near the back wall.

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Dominating the center of the court in winning nine of the first 10 games against Irina-Camelia Begu, Bouchard was displaced in the second set.

Bouchard lost her way—and dropped a set for the first time in the tournament—but regained control to close 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 and advance to her second consecutive Australian Open quarterfinal.

Three immediate takeaways from this match:

First Strike Importance
Bouchard's game — and confidence — flows when her first serve lands. She served 58 percent in the first set and 62 percent in the last set and did not face a break point in either set. She served 50 percent in the second set and dropped serve four times.

Major Focus
Regrouping to roll through the decider, Bouchard's ability to reset in major matches is a big reason why she advanced to her fourth quarterfinal in her last five Grand Slam starts.

Stepping Up
Bouchard's ability to prowl the baseline, take the ball early and hammer shots on the rise empowered her to regain control. Can she sustain such ultra-aggressive court positioning against hard-hitting Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals?

It was disjointed performance that left the seventh-seeded Canadian with mixed emotions: Bouchard was thrilled to be back in the quarterfinals, but concerned with her lapse that came out of nowhere.

"I'm not happy with how I think my level dropped a little bit," Bouchard said. "I feel like I need to do better than that. I'm happy I was able to kind of regroup and do better in the third set."

Dictating play for a set and a half, Bouchard looked sharp only to tighten up and play sloppy tennis for the latter stages of the second set.

Contesting her first major fourth round match in her 15th Grand Slam tournament appearance, Begu began moving better and hitting her two-handed backhand with more conviction. But Bouchard, who began forcing shots down the line, was her own worst enemy blowing a two-break lead in the second set.

Begu saved a break point then banged an ace down the T to hold for 6-5. Trying to force the issue down the line, Bouchard sailed successive groundstrokes to face a third set point. A tight Bouchard double-faulted, scattering a second serve off the top of the tape, to drop serve and the set.

Missing by wide margins at times, Bouchard clanked 22 unforced errors in the second set — doubling her first set total.

In en effort to regroup, the Canadian took a bathroom break then broke at 30 to open the decisive set.

The first serve returned and so did Bouchard's focus in the final set as she won 11 of 13 first-serve points in the decider.

Pinching the brim of her yellow visor as if narrowing her focus, Bouchard threw down three convincing holds to extend the lead to 4-2. Begu never got closer.

Bouchard closed in two hours, six minutes and knows she will have to pick up her play against Sharapova in a rematch of the 2014 French Open semifinals. Bouchard won the first set before Sharapova rallied for a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory.

The world No. 2 is 3-0 lifetime against Bouchard, including a 6-2, 6-0 win in their only hard-court clash at the 2013 Miami tournament.

"I'm just so excited for this quarterfinal match," Bouchard told ESPN2. "I've come a long way since then. I want to focus on my side of the net and impose myself as much as I can...I want to be able to take my chances if and when I get them."