By Chris Oddo | Monday, June 30, 2014

 

Eugenie Bouchard become the first Canadian woman to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals in the Open Era with a 7-6(5), 7-5 victory over Alize Cornet on Day 7.

Photo Source: AP

Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard has become a one-woman Grand Slam wrecking ball.

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On Monday the 20-year-old reached her first Wimbledon quarterfinal with a hard-fought 7-6(5) 7-5 over Alize Cornet, the woman who put a premature end to Serena Williams’ Wimbledon campaign on Saturday.

“I’m excited,” said Bouchard, who has yet to drop a set at Wimbledon this year. “It was a really tough battle today, so I’m proud of the way I fought.”

Playing under the Centre Court roof for the first time in her career (It had to be closed when rains came after the first five games of the match), Bouchard came dangerously close to dropping the first set in a tiebreaker, when a string of unforced errors saw her drop four consecutive points to fall behind 5-4. But the steely 20-year-old quickly turned things around, seizing the final three points of the set to grab the opener.

“I think I really stepped up my game at the important moments,” said Bouchard, who has impressed pundits with her aggressive, opportunistic game as well as her intensity and maturity. “That’s what you have to do in such close matches.”

In the second set Bouchard would surrender the first break of the match and find herself behind 4-2 before rallying to close out cornet in one hour and forty-six minutes to set up a quarterfinal clash with either Maria Sharapova or Angelique Kerber.

Though no stuffed animals were tossed on the court for Bouchard to retrieve, the presence of Bouchard’s newest superfan, Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons, did keep the cameras clicking throughout the match.

But none of it did anything to diminish the laser-like focus of Bouchard, who improved her Grand Slam record to 14-2 on the season by combining her trademark grit with her punishing brand of quick-strike tennis to weather the tense moments of a very entertaining battle with Cornet.

As the year has progressed, the improbable nature of Bouchard’s rise has taken on an air of inevitability. Unlike many of her talented peers, Bouchard expects to win, and rarely does she bubble over with excitement even as she keeps cracking milestones.

But the stoic Bouchard couldn’t help letting the world in on one of her secrets on Monday, when she was asked how much she’d dreamt of winning Wimbledon. “I have dreamt of it for a long time,” she said. “Ever since I started when I was five years old. To win Wimbledon, to win a Grand Slam, that’s my ultimate goal.”

She’s not quite there yet, but she certainly has earned the right to dream.