Last week, Eugenie Bouchard (Westmount, QC) was in Porto Alegre, Brazil to compete in Copa Gerdau, a prestigious Grade A ITF junior event. Seeded third in the tournament, Bouchard dominated her opponents throughout the week, dropping only 18 games in six matches to capture the biggest title of her career.
Among her victories, she deafeated former junior World No. 1 Irina Khromacheva of Russia in the semifinals before knocking off Slovakia’s Viktoria Malova 6-1, 6-2 in the final. The win is the biggest Canadian junior triumph since Gabriela Dabrowski took home top honours at the Orange Bowl in 2009. With the victory, Bouchard moves up from no. 14 to no. 6 on the ITF junior rankings, a career-best. She follows in the footsteps of Sonya Jeyaseelan, Aleksandra Wozniak, Sharon Fichman and Gabriela Dabrowski who have all been in the Top 10 as juniors.
Earlier this year, the 17-year-old Canadian captured her first professional title at a $25,000 Challenger in Australia. Bouchard will continue to play both junior and pro events as the season progresses. She will play several European junior events leading as preparation for Roland-Garros and Wimbledon.