Photo: Martin Sidorjak
Genie Bouchard was forced to work hard for her 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Daria Gavrilova of Australia in the second round of the French Open. But the 26-year-old Canadian held firm and fought her way through to the third round of Roland Garros for the first time since 2014, when she reached the semi-finals.
In fact, this is already Bouchard’s best showing at any Grand Slam since her third-round appearance against the United States’ Coco Vandeweghe at the 2017 Australian Open.
However, things didn’t all go to plan for the Montrealer on Court 13 on Wednesday morning. In fact, she fell behind to a shock deficit to Gavrilova, ranked No. 788 on the WTA Tour, when she dropped the first set 7-5, despite having broken the Australian’s serve on three occasions.
The second set saw her make a marked improvement. Bouchard came out on the front foot to break her opponent in the first game, and again in the seventh, to take a 5-2 lead. Gavrilova did break back to make things slightly tense – but Bouchard remained calm and composed to see out the set 6-4.
Bouchard kept up the pressure heading into the third set and was rewarded for her efforts as she crafted a 0-40 lead on Gavrilova’s serve. The Canadian was playing strong tennis and capitalized on the opportunity by forcing her opponent to hit a return into the net.
And the Canadian would not relinquish that lead -and she even extended it with another break – as she saw out the set and the match to ensure her safe passage into the next round in Paris, where she’ll face talented Polish teenager Iga Swiatek for a place in the second week.
