{"id":29646,"date":"2017-01-11T23:01:58","date_gmt":"2017-01-11T23:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=29646"},"modified":"2017-01-11T23:01:58","modified_gmt":"2017-01-11T23:01:58","slug":"bouchard-sets-up-semi-with-konta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=29646","title":{"rendered":"Bouchard sets up semi with Konta"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bouchard1\"
Eugenie Bouchard of Canada celebrates her win against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia in their women's quarter-final match at the Sydney International tennis tournament in Sydney yesterday. AFP PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

AFP, \u00a0SYDNEY: Eugenie Bouchard reached her first semi-final for 10 months as she battled intense heat to down higher-ranked Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at the Sydney International on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The former Wimbledon finalist wore down the 27th-ranked Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-3 in 76 minutes to set up a semi-final with Britain's world number 10 Johanna Konta.<\/p>\n

It will be the 49th-ranked Canadian's first WTA Tour semi-final since the Malaysian Open in March last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt's a good step in the right direction. I know there is a long way to go to achieve what I want,\u201d Bouchard said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut to match up against solid players like I have this week, it's a very tough tournament here. So I'm proud of that, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bouchard beat Konta in three sets in the second round at last year's Wimbledon, but it was a battle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI barely got through the last one. She's a top-10 player. She's playing her best tennis right now,\u201d Bouchard said of Konta.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know she will be pretty aggressive. She hits a big ball. I will be ready for that and try and play some good tennis. Yeah, just be grateful for another day in Sydney.\u201d<\/p>\n

Konta continued her impressive progress through the Sydney International draw with a 6-3, 7-5 win over rising young Russian Daria Kasatkina, who had eliminated German world number one Angelique Kerber in Tuesday's second round.<\/p>\n

\u201cI played Eugenie last year in Wimbledon, a really, really tough battle,\u201d Konta said.
\n\u201cI know going into it that it's going to be a tough match. She still is one of the best players, and, yeah, it's a given that it's going to be a tough one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elsewhere on a stifling day where temperatures topped 42 degrees Celsius (108 Fahrenheit), former world number one Caroline Wozniacki went down in a punishing three hour, 20 minute battle with Barbora Strycova 7-5, 6-7 (6\/8), 6-4.<\/p>\n

Both players needed treatment for foot blisters on the broiling Ken Rosewall Arena hardcourt. Strycova in the semis will face the 2013 winner Agnieszka Radwanska, who eliminated Chinese qualifier Duan Yingying 6-3, 6-2 in the evening match.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AFP, \u00a0SYDNEY: Eugenie Bouchard reached her first semi-final for 10 months as she battled intense heat to down higher-ranked Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at the Sydney International on Wednesday. The former Wimbledon finalist wore down the 27th-ranked Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-3 in 76 minutes to set up a semi-final with Britain’s world number 10 Johanna Konta. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n