Bouchard Survives Stephens Battle

Posted: Jan 01, 1970

INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – Eugenie Bouchard stayed calm and kept her Indian Wells campaign alive, battling past No.21 seed Sloane Stephens to book a third round clash with Timea Bacsinszky at the BNP Paribas Open.

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Both players came into the second-round clash riding the wave of a personal renaissance in their tennis – Stephens has already won two titles so far this year and owns an impressive 11-1 record, while Bouchard has reached the finals at two events after a well-documented 2015 drought.

Bouchard faced her first big mental test in the form of Japanese qualifier Risa Ozaki – at one stage being five points away from defeat in the last round – and she knew the clash with Stephens would be no easier. Stephens edged their head-to-head 2-1, with both of their last two matches ending in tough, three set battles.

Stephens quickly climbed to a break up twice in the first set – both times with help from a couple of Bouchard’s double faults – and each time the Canadian recovered to get the breaks back. It was one of the many signs of Bouchard’s newfound calmness and maturity; she was able to put those setbacks behind her instead of dwelling on what could have been. Bouchard blasted a huge forehand return down the line just out of Stephens’ reach to put away the first set.

But Stephens didn’t go away quietly in the second set. Instead, she erased a 2-0 lead from Bouchard to level the score and fight her way into the match.

The American broke Bouchard’s serve once again – again with help from a Bouchard double fault – to serve for the set at 5-4. Bouchard fought her way back from 0-40 down, erasing three set points by forcing a forehand long from Stephens’ racquet. A lucky net cord gave Bouchard a break point as the two were deadlocked, going from break point to set point and back and forth again. Bouchard saved a fifth set point and took the game as well as the wind out of Stephens’ sails.

She quickly grabbed the next two games to take the match 7-5, 7-5 after a hard-fought hour and forty-one minutes.

“It was very very close. I got lucky with a netcord,” Bouchard said after the match. “I just kept trying to fight and kept trying to step in a bit and dictate the point. That works well for me – I try to do that a lot.

“I just had so much fun playing tonight. Sloane played a great match.”