Eugenie Bouchard’s growth on the court in the last two years has inspired Canadian tennis fans and so did her three-set effort against superstar Maria Sharapova Thursday in the French Open semifinal.
The 2012 Wimbledon Junior Grand Slam champion, who was eliminated in the second round of last year’s French Open, continued to raise her stock with another final-four appearance in a Grand Slam — she reached the Australian Open semifinal earlier this year.
Bouchard’s match with Sharapova, the player the 20-year-old Montreal native grew up idolizing, was a memorable one. After taking the first set, Bouchard stumbled, battled back but fell short in the second before her Russian opponent closed things out in the third.
Sharapova has now won 19 straight three-set matches on clay, while Bouchard suffered her first loss at a Slam after winning the first set.
Despite the loss, tennis fans took to social media to praise Bouchard’s effort and talk some Sharapova too.
https://twitter.com/cathalkelly/status/474577926143217664
https://twitter.com/DamoSpin/status/474568632740380672
https://twitter.com/rolandgarros_FR/status/474577302589014016
https://twitter.com/cathalkelly/status/474566123900268545