The most anticipated match of the tournament turned into a thriller from beginning to end at the Mutua Madrid Open late Monday night. After nearly three hours of drama on Manolo Santa it was Eugenie Bouchard who walked away victorious winning 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 at La Caja Mágica against Maria Sharapova. Both players combined for 219 points with the Canadian pulling out of the biggest wins of her year and maybe her career.
This turned into the most interesting match in the ladies draw after words drawn from the Canadian about Sharapova’s suspension took shape in their anticipated meeting in the second round. While Bouchard put in a lot of hard work to dictate well against Cornet, the Russian had to fight from start to finish against Mirjana Lucic-Baroni to make this happen. Words weren’t going to be enough for the Montreal native as she has lost the last four meetings against Sharapova. The wild card super star allowed her to try and gain points and against Bouchard, take revenge for the comments.
The two started the set with pairs of service holds until a falter in Sharapova’s serve gave the Canadian a chance for the first break. Needing a quick improvement, the former number one kept together in the rally to force deuce and defend her hold of service. She produced a short cross over winner from the baseline to gain the advantage and saved two break points to stand as the one out front.
She made it her mission to be the one to break Bouchard as her powerful return game took down the 23-year-old putting her two games behind. A challenge arrived in the seventh as Bouchard was threatening to gain her first break but her second serve returns made that difficult to accomplish. With plenty of effort and three break point chances later, the Canadian captured the win and stuck within reach of a tie while it presented itself.
Bouchard’s ground strokes and ability to fire hard in the rallies gave her the service hold and a level pegging with Sharapova making the next pair of games crucial for both players. Bouchard’s success earned her another break that led to her serving for the set and a concern into the head of Sharapova. Sven Groenveld came out to speak with his Russian athlete to give her points to counteract the actions of the world number 60. It remained a difficult task but a solid finish to a tight rally gave Sharapova plenty of room to run away with the break pushing things deeper in the set.
The fight for control was heavy in the air as both players wanted control despite not being very much. The advantage of winning the 11th game became a drawn out battle where neither wanted the other to have enough leverage to get through. After 12 minutes and another important break, Bouchard won the point that gave her a heavy 6-5 hold with another chance to serve for the set.
She had to battle back from an early hole but the strong winners that one upped the moves from Sharapova saw her land four massive winners that inevitably gave her the set win after 1 hour and 10 minutes. While the set was clearly a dramatic race to the finish, the difference was in Sharapova’s six double faults and high number of unforced errors. She risked plenty to fight hard against Bouchard but control in the second would have to produce better results.
The opening games were nothing short of what the opening set brought to court. The players got into some deep rallies where Sharapova made the Canadian run for every shot. At times Bouchard got to the ball delivering great returns back for the winning point but the aggression was in the hands of the Russian who wanted to dictate the second set.
Bouchard was still a force across court leveling the score each time she got the ball to serve. As Sharapova continued to step forward on her service holds, the pressure got to the Canadian who broke the pace she had opening the margin for the former number one after six. With the biggest lead of the match so far, Sharapova wasted no time attacking Bouchard to a new degree earning her a 5-2 run and a chance to break her once more to even the match.
The heat was on Bouchard who watched Sharapova slam winners far from the 23-year-old. The Russian reached set point smashing a winner while Bouchard was well away from responding thereby ending the second set after 37 minutes. The match had turned a corner in favor of Sharapova who dramatically minimized the double faults while increasing her winners to Bouchard showing high levels of skill to make the third set hers while facing adversity.
Sharapova earned her fifth straight game to begin the third on serve but the control soon became too much for Bouchard to allow. She brought together one of the strongest games in the match winning her service game to snap the streak and make it a match once more. It was a challenge for Bouchard to keep a strong serve against Sharapova. The Canadian had to do work on deuce but got the win to keep pace with the former number one.
The fifth was just another example of drama as Bouchard’s tenacity came back to play saving point after point during deuce that five went into the books with her game at its best. Despite not winning the game, she left a message on court that she was going to keep the level of action high. It remained a level playing field between Bouchard and Sharapova reaching the halfway point of the ultimate conclusion.
A strong win for Bouchard came in the seventh where the first serve of Sharapova faltered just enough to give the Canadian her first triple break that gave her the first lead change. It sent the Russian to have Groenveld to come out and ask her to work till the end with very little chances left standing. She delivered with a double break point getting back to a tie after a long ball from Bouchard.
The unforced error in the previous game didn’t bother the 23-year-old as she brushed it off and put her focus into the ninth game that produced amazing results. Bouchard fought through deuce to win the game and set herself with a chance to knock out Sharapova for the match. The Russian didn’t want to go out like this and proved so in the tenth with a 40-0 run. It soon began to dwindle as her unforced errors and fight from the Canadian to move to deuce instead. The advantage sat heavily with Bouchard but an eight-shot rally had every element that ended with Sharapova saving a match point. It was the only one she could stop as Bouchard got back a second chance and won it after a five-shot rally ending 2 hours and 51 minutes of absolutely amazing tennis.
Bouchard won 96 points on serve and averaged 59 percent against Sharapova who won more points but struggled on the serve throughout. Proving her worth in the sport, the Canadian has certainly plenty to be proud of but will need it all to come back when she’ll face world number one Angelique Kerber in round three to be played Wednesday.
Bouchard won 96 points on serve and averaged 59 percent against Sharapova who won more points but struggled on the serve throughout. Proving her worth in the sport, the Canadian has certainly plenty to be proud of but will need it all to come back when she’ll face world number one Angelique Kerber in round three to be played Wednesday.
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