Eugenie Bouchard finished her first night at the Mutua Madrid Open with a victory Saturday. The struggling Canadian delivered a blow in the final set against Alize Cornet winning a tight three setter 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 on Manolo Santana Court on the grounds of Caja Mágica. It was Bouchard’s first win since the Australian Open and a good way to snap a two-match losing streak.
The two haven’t met since last year when the Frenchwoman defeated Bouchard in straight sets to win the Hobart tournament. It leveled her in the career series between one another at two wins apiece. While Cornet slowly came back after an injury, Bouchard took a step down entering an ITF tournament that she lost in the quarterfinals. It was the first winning streak she had since the Australian Open but her loss at Istanbul didn’t put her in good positioning to start a WTA premier event.
Both she and Cornet had good opening serves to start the first set but a break in the third gave the Canadian a chance to dictate early on serve. She did just that warming up nicely to carry a lead that sat as the early threat. It was dealt with by Cornet who held serve despite the fight that Bouchard had going for her almost forcing deuce in the fifth. Bouchard answered in the sixth with another service hold that had her on track for a positive outlook going forward.
She nearly had another step ahead of Cornet who committed double fault on serve but a much-needed recovery helped her force deuce and stay on serve with the Canadian. The leverage remained with Bouchard who continued her strengthening service holds to take a 5-3 hold in hopes to closing out Cornet fast.
It turned into a complete turnaround as Cornet recorded her first love service that brought her back within a game hoping to consolidate a push into extra games. Cornet had a 30-0 hold in the tenth but her actions on the second serve opened the door for Bouchard to attack with the ball in hand and win on the break to capture the set in 42 minutes. Bouchard had many things going well for her while the world number 43 dragged on the second serve winning half her points and dismal return percentage.
She carried her troubles into the second with another double fault that handed Bouchard an easy triple break and her second so far. Not wanting to fall early, Cornet managed to force out a break that Bouchard couldn’t counter in time handing the French star a lift. She denied her a service hold forcing deuce with Cornet where the problems on her offense were too much to the return attacks that Bouchard laid across court.
Despite the good moves that the Canadian had, she and Cornet were unable to hold serve against one another through the next four games. It got close at points to the sixth but in the end, it was a dead lock until the beginning of the seventh. After winning the break, Cornet went on a points winning streak that reached eight in a row giving her a well-deserved service hold that gave her an advantage to defending in the eighth.
She didn’t get that chance as Bouchard pulled off a service hold of her own making it very critical for both to be at their best with the set coming to a close. Cornet made the best move she had and won on the serve in the ninth that put the pressure on Bouchard to keep her eyes on the match win. It wasn’t meant to be as Cornet was also eyeing a chance to stay alive in the match hunting the break down with all she had. Getting it done with powers on the return, the French star gained confidence and won set point to send things to a deciding third set. The 46 minutes saw both struggling on the second serve but the first serve shots were in favor of the French star who wanted nothing more than to get on the right track while the opportunities remained available.
Cornet picked up a game but fell apart fast as Bouchard handled the defense of being on break to tear her way to a sizable lead. She pushed out to a commanding 4-1 run as the unforced errors and double faults were lowering the second serve of Cornet’s to rock bottom. The trouble of Cornet was making it very easy for Bouchard to hold another service in the final set taking another big step to getting her first win in three months. She played for a spot in the second round with Cornet on serve reaching two match points. She got it after two hours of play scoring a winner to move on.
Her hard work in another three-set match puts her in very interesting territory on Monday. She will either have a match that could be against Mirjana Lucic-Baroni or face returning superstar Maria Sharapova who she has had a strong opinion on since the 30-year-old came back from suspension.
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