Eugenie Bouchard becoming the first Canadian woman to reach a Grand Slam semi in three decades is now in the past as the 19-year-old prepares for her match against China's Li Na in the Australian Open final four.
Eugenie Bouchard serves during her match against Ana Ivanovic on Jan. 21, 2014. William West/AFP/Getty Images
Bouchard became the first Canadian woman to reach a Grand Slam semi in three decades with her 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 quarter-final win over former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic on Monday. She faces China's Li Na on Thursday (Wednesday night in Canada) in the Australian Open's final four.
"This is something I've been doing since I was five years old and working my whole life for and sacrificing a lot of things for," said Bouchard. "So it's not exactly a surprise. I always expect myself to do well. I'm just happy to have gone through this step. I'm not done. I have a match on Thursday. I'm just looking forward to that."
That kind of WTA rep does not bother the confident Bouchard, whose ad-hoc Genie Army of a dozen or so Aussie fans will surely be out in full force for the showcase event.
"Li's a great champion, she's won a Slam, as well, it's going to be really tough," said Bouchard, playing in the main draw of a major for only the fourth time. "I played her once in Montreal two years ago. We had a close match, one of my first bigger matches.
"It will be interesting to play her. I know she's very solid, very good from the back. It's going to be hard, but I'm looking forward to it."
Beside her tennis, it's Bouchard's bubbly personality that has captured fan fancy, with commentators already labelling her the next breakout women's star.
The Canadian extrovert, who confesses to possessing a Type A, get-it-done personality — especially on the court — is dealing with the expectations well.
"I'm a really focused person, really driven. Off the court I'm almost impatient in a way," said Bouchard. "On the court I'm the same way. I really just want to play my game, be aggressive, take it to my opponent, and not just wait around and wait for opportunities.
"I think it's a good thing to take my chances when I'm on the court."
Bouchard's not intimidated by the big stage of a Grand Slam tournament, either.
"The matches I had last year on the big courts, like (Maria) Sharapova at the French Open, Ivanovic at Wimbledon, just being on those big stages gave me a lot of experience," she said. "Now walking out on centre court in Australia, I feel like I've been here before. I've been able to perform on big stages as well. It gives me that extra confidence."
While she won't make any predictions about her match with Li, Bouchard is fairly certain that her supporters will be tossing another stuffed Aussie animal onto the court after the match, bringing her tournament total to five.
The bulky mementos have a special place in her heart, with Bouchard bringing each new one to post-match media availability and sitting it proudly next to the microphone.
Getting the growing menagerie back to Quebec should not be a problem for the resourceful Bouchard.
"I have a koala, and kangaroo, a kookaburra, and a wombat," she said. "I will create luggage space. It's worth it to take my wombat home."
Bouchard blips on hometown fans' radar
Eugenie Bouchard of Canada practises serving during a training session at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014. Not only has Montreal's Bouchard won over tennis fans with her impressive run at the Australian Open — she's even made a minor dent in her hockey-loving hometown's spectator-sports scene. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Aijaz Rahi
One of the city's best-known sports bars has already reserved 120 seats for Bouchard's semifinal match Wednesday night against China's Li Na — and the manager is expecting nearly twice that many people to show up for the event.
Johnny Nunes of Champs Bar said he's never seen so much interest in a tennis match.
"I have a feeling it's going to be fun," he said.
But the rising tennis star from the city's Westmount enclave still has work to do before she approaches anything close to the drawing power of the beloved Montreal Canadiens.
An employee at another popular sports bar, near Westmount, wasn't sure whether they would show the tennis match on their big-screen TVs because the Canadiens were scheduled to play a road game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
"If it's during the hockey game, we can't do it," said the woman, before being told that Bouchard's match was scheduled to start after Montreal's game was expected to end.
"It's after the hockey game? No problem."
Meanwhile, employees at two different bars in Westmount said they didn't have plans to show Bouchard's match — and one indicated he had never even heard of her.
"To tell you the truth, I have no idea who Eugene Bouchard is," said the man, flubbing her name as he attempted to repeat it.
That seems hard to believe, considering Bouchard is at the forefront of a tennis revival in Canada that includes men's stars Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil, who are both in the top 30 of the ATP rankings.
Bouchard, the world No. 31, has a tough challenge ahead of her in the fourth-ranked Li, but a win would send Canadian tennis into uncharted territory.
No Canadian has ever reached a singles final of a Grand Slam event. In fact, the only other Canadian to reach a semifinal at a major event was Carling Bassett, who lost to Chris Evert in the semis of the 1984 U.S. Open.
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