BOUCHARD BEATS IVANOVIC TO REACH THE THIRD ROUND AT WIMBLEDON

Written by: Staff on 26th June 2013

BOUCHARD BEATS IVANOVIC TO REACH THE THIRD ROUND AT WIMBLEDON

epa03760830 Eugenie Bouchard of Canada (R) at the net with Ana Ivanovic of Serbia whom she defeated in their second round match for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 26 June 2013. EPA/TOM HEVEZI |

Ana Ivanovic to the left, Eugenie Bouchard to the right

Montreal, June 26, 2013 – On Tuesday, four Canadians reached the second round of a Grand Slam for the first time since 1998 and Eugenie Bouchard (Westmount, QC) continued her Wimbledon run Wednesday with an upset victory over world no. 12 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia. Vasek Pospisil (Vancouver, BC) was unable to follow suit as he fell in five sets to Russian Mikhail Youzhny.

The match between Bouchard and Ivanovic was originally scheduled to be played on Court 12, but was moved Centre Court following the withdrawal of Victoria Azarenka. The 19-year-old Canadian appeared at home playing on the biggest stage in tennis, jumping out to a quick 3-0 lead and she never looked back. Bouchard played aggressively, winning 81 percent of her first serve points. She served for the match at 5-2, but needed a second chance to serve out an impressive 6-3, 6-3 win. Bouchard becomes the first Canadian woman since Maureen Drake in 2002 to reach the third round at Wimbledon. On Friday, Bouchard will take on Carla Suarez-Navarro of Spain.

For his part, Pospisil came within two games of causing another big Canadian upset against the no. 20 seed Youzhny. Trailing two sets to one, he fought back to force a decisive fifth in which he led 4-2. Pospisil was unable to hold onto the lead, losing the final four games of the match to fall 6-2, 6-7(3), 7-6(7), 3-6, 6-4 in a match that lasted a little more than three hours, 30 minutes.