WATCH: Canada’s rising tennis sensations, Eugenie Bouchard and Milos Raonic, are both one step closer to winning their first Grand Slam titles inspiring the next generation of tennis players to follow in their footsteps. Rob Leth reports.
LONDON – Eugenie Bouchard will play in her third Grand Slam semifinal of the year Thursday after defeating German Angelique Kerber 6-3, 6-4 in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
The 13th-seeded Bouchard also made the semfinals at the French Open last month and the Australian Open earlier this year.
READ MORE: Bouchard through to Wimbledon quarter-finals
She will face French Open finalist and third-seed Simona Halep after the Romanian crushed 2013 Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki 6-4, 6-0 on Wednesday.
The win is expected to put the 20-year-old Bouchard into the WTA’s top-10 for the first time in her career.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper congratulated the tennis star on Twitter.
Canada will have two players in the semis after Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., defeated Australian wild card entry Nick Kyrgios in his quarter-final.
READ MORE: Milos Raonic first Canadian man to reach Wimbledon semis in 100 years
Bouchard says she’s ready to get beyond the final four.
“I’m excited to be in the semifinals against (her) but I want to go further for sure,” said Bouchard.
Bouchard struggled to close out her win over Kerber, whom she beat a month ago in Paris.
She finally advanced after 72 minutes on her first match point, which she set up with a down-the-line winner followed a point later by a Kerber backhand error.
“It was a tough battle, I’ve played her before and I knew what to expect,” said Bouchard. “I had to just keep fighting and I pulled it out at the end.”
Bouchard saved two break points in the final game and ended with three breaks of serve from 13 chances. She had 29 winners and 20 unforced errors.
“In the last game, I was just trying to stay in the moment,” said Bouchard, who improved her Wimbledon record to 7-1. “I was not thinking ahead. That’s something I’ve been working on.”
“I had a few bad errors in that game but I also hit some aggressive shots, that’s just my game,” she added.
Bouchard has lost her only previous meeting against Halep, on hardcourt at Indian Wells last March.
“She’s a good player and I’m ready for another tough match,” Bouchard said.
Halep, meanwhile, took command of her match by attacking Lisicki’s weak second serve. The German won only eight of 26 points on her second serve. She also had 20 unforced errors, compared to 11 by Halep.
“She had 4-1 and then I came very well back,” Halep said. “I played my best today and I was enjoying every moment because it was incredible on Centre Court.”
Wednesday’s schedule also featured all four men’s quarter-finals. In addition to Raonic versus Kyrgios, defending champion Andy Murray was up against Grigor Dimitrov; seven-time winner Roger Federer faced fellow Swiss Stan Warwinka; and top-seeded Novak Djokovic played Marin Cilic.
Among those in the Royal Box were Prince William, second in line to the British throne, and his wife Kate.
– With files from The Associated Press
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