Canada’s Bouchard advances to Hobart International final with win over Cibulkova
Posted Jan 14, 2016 01:05:51 PM.
Last Updated Jan 15, 2016 05:12:19 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
HOBART, Australia – Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard is on to the final of the Hobart International tennis tournament.
Bouchard, from Westmount, Que., advanced after a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 semifinal win over Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova early Friday.
A dominant first set saw Bouchard earn four aces. She added two more in the later sets for a total of six compared to Cibulkova’s none.
Bouchard has now won both of their career meetings. They last met at the 2015 U.S. Open’s round of 32 where Bouchard won in three sets.
In Saturday’s final, Bouchard will face seventh-seed Alize Cornet of France, who beat Johanna Larsson of Sweden 6-1, 6-1.
The Hobart tournament is the final tune-up for the Australian Open, which begins next week. Bouchard will enter the tournament playing her best stretch of tennis since suffering a concussion in a dressing room fall at the U.S. Open last September.
“I can’t remember the last time I played that well,” Bouchard said. “The important thing is trying to keep that and have that consistently.”
That consistency wasn’t there in the second set, when she lost every service game. She smashed her racket while walking off the court at the end of the set and said her play was “absolutely disgusting.”
— With files from The Associated Press
