Thursday, July 3, 2014

Wimbledon Day 10 highlights: Bouchard, Kvitova in final

Eugenie Bouchard, 20, advanced to her first Grand Slam
women's singles final. 2013 photo by Paul Bauman
   Match of the day -- No. 13 seed Eugenie Bouchard became Canada's first Grand Slam singles finalist, defeating No. 3 Simona Halep of Romania 7-6 (5), 6-2. Halep, who gained her first major final last month in the French Open, sprained her left ankle early in the first set. Bouchard, 20, triumphed on her sixth match point in her third consecutive major semifinal.
   Other women's semifinal -- No. 6 seed Petra Kvitova, the 2011 champion, beat No. 23 Lucie Safarova 7-6 (6), 6-1 in a matchup of Czech left-handers.
   Notable -- British wild cards Neal Skupski and Naomi Broady needed 11 match points to outlast Florin Mergea of Romania and Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the mixed doubles round of 16.
   Friday's men's semifinals -- Novak Djokovic (1) vs. Grigor Dimitrov (11), ESPN, 5 a.m. California time (live); Roger Federer (4) vs. Milos Raonic (8), ESPN, following first semifinal (live). Djokovic leads Dimitrov 3-1 in their head-to-head series; Federer leads Raonic 4-0.
   U.S. report -- Unseeded Jack Sock of Tampa, Fla., and Vasek Pospisil of Canada ousted second-seeded Alexander Peya of Austria and Bruno Soares of Brazil 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4 to reach the men's doubles semifinals. Sock and Pospisil could meet Americans Bob and Mike Bryan, the top seeds and defending champions, in the final. ...
   The United States has three boys -- sixth-seeded Stefan Kozlov, unseeded Taylor Harry Fritz and qualifier Noah Rubin -- and two girls -- third-seeded Tornado Alicia Black and qualifier Michaela Gordon -- in the singles quarterfinals.
   Northern California connection -- Bouchard's coach, 58-year-old Nick Saviano, earned All-America honors at Stanford. ...
   Broady, 6-foot-2 (1.89 meters), and Storm Sanders of Australia won the doubles title in last year's $50,000 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger in the Sacramento area. Broady withdrew from next week's Gold River Challenger, but Sanders, 19, is entered. ...
   Gordon, a 14-year-old resident of Los Altos Hills in the San Francisco Bay Area, dominated wild card Maia Lumsden of Great Britain 6-2, 6-1. ...
   The 36-year-old Bryan twins, who played at Stanford in 1997 and 1998, will face 12th-seeded Michael Llodra and Nicolas Mahut of France in Friday's men's doubles semifinals.
   Fast fact -- Bouchard has won three Wimbledon junior titles. She prevailed in singles two years ago and in doubles in 2011 and 2012 with Americans Grace Min and Taylor Townsend, respectively.
   Quote -- The private Kvitova, on winning Wimbledon at 21 and needing three years to advance to her second Grand Slam final: “There were a lot of positive things I got, but definitely when I won here in 2011, I needed to change a little bit myself on the court and off the court, as well, to get used to the pressure, media, and everything like that.”

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