LONDON – Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard advanced to the quarter-finals of Wimbledon on Monday after defeating France’s Alize Cornet 7-6 (5), 7-5.
Bouchard, the No. 13 seed from Westmount, Que., continued her romp through the 2014 Grand Slam draws after breakthrough semifinals at the Australian Open and French Open.
The 2012 junior Wimbledon winner will next play the winner of a match between fifth seed Maria Sharapova and ninth seed Angelique Kerber of Germany.
Sharapova defeated Bouchard in the French Open semifinal before going on to win the tournament.
Bouchard won the last four games of the Centre Court match which was interrupted for less than an hour by rain, with the moveable roof being closed.
The 20-year-old Canadian made the most of her return after trailing 3-2 in the first set, improving her Grand Slam record to 14-2.
“I’m really proud of how I fought,” Bouchard said. “It was not an easy match. She’s a good player and gets a lot of balls back.
“I tried to finish off the points, which I managed. It was my first time under the famous roof. It’s quite humid, not a lot of air circulating.
“Conditions were tough but they were the same for both of us.”
Bouchard won the opening set after nearly an hour of play with a backhand winner in the tiebreaker.
She went down 4-2 and later 5-3 in the second set, but calmly levelled for 5-all, breaking when Cornet fired a forehand wide.
Bouchard held serve to go up 6-5 and won the tight concluding game with another break of Cornet, advancing on the first match point when Cornet hit her forehand long.
“I’m very excited, but I need to stay focused,” Bouchard said. “it can only be one march at a time. I need to keep from being distracted.
“This what I’ve world so hard for. I want to take another step, I want to keep going.”
Men’s eighth seed Milos Raonic, Thornhill, Ont, will play for the quarter-finals on Tuesday against Japan’s 10th seed Kei Nishikori, who defeated Simone Bolelli of 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4.
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