Eugene Bouchard: From one final to another

Eugene Bouchard had already played seven finals on the WTA circuit before facing Spain’s Sarah Sorbes Tormo in the final round of the Guadalajara Open on Saturday night. Back to these important moments in the career of the Quebec player who was 1-6 in the final before this duel in Mexico.

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Bouchard’s most memorable and important final was between her and Czech Petra Kvitova at Wimbledon in July 2014. At the age of 20, the Westmount player had a dream season on the circuit. After reaching the semi-finals at the Australian Open and Roland Garros, she reached her first (and only) professional Grand Slam final.

The greatness of the moment, but also his opponent, was somewhat suppressed by Bouchard, who struggled to let his talent speak for itself. She eventually lost both sets 6-3 and 6-0. His performance at the All England Club allowed him to rise to seventh in the world.

A few months ago, in October 2013, Bouchard reached his first final on the circuit in Osaka. It was the WTA International Tournament and she dated Samantha Stosur of Australia. The Canadian fought hard, but eventually lost 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 in three sets.

Bouchard won his first and only title on the circuit in May 2014 in Nuremberg, Germany. The International Category Tournament was played on clay and served as a warm-up for the French Open. In the final round, Quebec defeated Czech Carolina Pliskova 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in three sets. At the time, Pliskova was ranked 64th in the world and ranked No. 1 in the world, reaching 2017.

Encore Kvitova

Later in 2014, Bouchard reunited with Quito in the final of the Premier 5 Tournament in Wuhan, China. Once again, the world number three Czech won both sets 6-3 and 6-4. The result will help Bouchard reach fifth place in the world in October, his best career ranking.

It has been two years since Quebecs reached the final again on the WTA circuit. She reached there twice in early 2016 at international category tournaments. First in January, in Hobart, Australia. After eliminating second and third seed Italian Camila Jorge and Slovak Dominica Cibulkova, Bouchard lost to Aliz Cornet in the final. The seventh favorite, the French, won both sets 6-1 and 6-2.

In early March 2016, Bouchard made an appointment with Ukrainian Elena Svitolina in the tournament final in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This time, she fought hard and came very close to winning her second career title. The Ukrainian finally finished last and won all three sets 6-7 (5), 6-4 and 7-5.

The last final for Bouchard before Guadalajara was in 2020 in Istanbul. Although it was a low caliber (WTA250) tournament, she had a good run that started during qualifying. In the final, Romania’s Patricia Maria Tig suffered another heartbreaking loss 2-6, 6-1 and 7-6 (4) in three sets.

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– The final between Eugene Bouchard and Sarah Soribs Tormo will be televised on TVA Sports 2, Saturday evening, from 8 p.m.