Katerina Siniakova made personal history at the US Open Tuesday. Despite the hot conditions, the 20-year-old from the Czech Republic recorded her first victory defeating Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard 6-3, 3-6,6-2 at Louis Armstrong Stadium at the Billy Jean King National Tennis Center.
A chance for redemption began for the Canadian who was cut short last year of a solid US Open run. With no slip ups before the tournament, the 22-year-old had her eyes set on success taking on an unknown opponent for the first time. The Czech might give her some difficulty having come off a long run at Bastad where she qualified and made it all the way to the final of the tournament. Despite losing out on a title, the 20-year-old gave herself more than a shot to do well in the final grand slam of the season.
The two got a great start to the match with Bouchard bringing every part of her game together on her opening serve. A challenge came to her in the fourth where Siniakova fought hard on defense leading the two to deuce. After eight breaks and 12 minutes, the Canadian was able to come out with a hold of serve to even up.
Both remained tight on the score with Siniakova taking point each time hoping that her Canadian counterpart would slip up. With two forehand errors in the eighth, Bouchard handed the Czech the first break of the set. Siniakova went to work in the ninth serving for the set with big shots across court that had Bouchard beat. A triple set point attempt worked out with a shot landing long for the Canadian ending the set in 40 minutes.
With the need for improvement, the 22-year-old got to open service in the second that led to some better control from her end. After allowing her opponent a victory in the second, Bouchard took off with control, opening the gap on Siniakova. It was a 4-1 run until the fifth when the Czech took a quick 40-0 lead. She geared up her offense to cut the margin in half with the hope of closing the gap entirely.
She never could as Bouchard climbed up with all the power left in her to take the set 6-3 after 44 minutes. The Canadian clearly improved committing just one double fault and increased the win percentage on both the first and second serve. Before going into the deciding set, the medical trainer was called out to deal with heat blisters that were on the right foot of Bouchard.
With the time it took for the timeout, the momentum was in the hands of Siniakova who served to start the final set. The 20-year-old Czech led the way and was more than ready to do so in the second. Bouchard tried to respond with a big answer on service but the two went into deuce for a lengthy draw. Eight breaks elapsed between the two with the advantage going either way. In the end, it was Siniakova coming out on top to take an important 2-0 lead.
Bouchard climbed back from the deficit and made the set tied up through four games making the next few games critical for both athletes. The Czech used her victory on service in the fifth to a great advantage as she came out blazing on the returns in the sixth. Using all her emotions and energy, Siniakova broke Bouchard to take a 4-2 run in the set that was a huge lead.
The hold for Siniakova was just another step forward to the second round while Bouchard reacted by slamming down her racket to the ground. It was up to her in the eighth to hold things together or find herself walking out of the tournament. She had the lead on service but unforced errors opened the door for the Czech who answered back with big returns on deuce to win the match after 2 hours and 14 minutes. “I was really good on my game and I’m really happy about it because it’s my first time on the big court here so I was really excited,” Siniakova said to Andrew Krasny after the match.
She’ll take on Caroline Garcia who she had beaten at Wimbledon going in the second round Thursday. “It will be a hard match,” she said. “I think we know already each other but I will try to play my best and we will see.”
Photo by: Al Bello/Getty Images
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