CHENNAI: It got tight in the second set on a sultry evening but by the end, it was the pedigree of Eugenie Bouchard that came to the fore as she made the quarterfinals of the WTA Chennai Open beating India's Karman Kaur Thandi 6-2, 7-6 (2).
The encounter, which lasted 2 hours and 13 minutes, saw a gritty performance from the 24-yearold Karman. She stretched her Canadian opponent on numerous occasions but it just wasn't enough to alter the course of the contest.
The opening set saw Genie breaking Karman in the opening game of the first set. The Canadian was under pressure in her opening game as her opponent had two break points.
However, Karman failed to convert them and the scoreline read 2-0 i n Eugenie's favour. Genie soon raced to a 4-0 lead in the opening set. Karman finally held her serve in the fifth game of the first set.
Eugenie's second ace saw her seal the opening set 6-2 in 48 minutes. While Eugenie was able to convert 2 out of the 4 break points she had in that set, Karman had three but converted none.
After being outplayed in the first set, Karman found the going a little easier in the second - holding serve in the opening game. Karman had a chance to break Eugenie in the 5th game of that set and managed to do that to grab a 4-2 lead. She held her serve in the next game to enjoy a 5-2 lead. The set was there to be won for Karman and in the 9th game, she had two set points, but Genie broke just when it mattered and held the next game to make it 5-5. The set went into a tie-breaker and that's when Genie brought her A game to the fore.
"I tried to dominate in the first set and that's what worked. In the second set, she controlled the points a bit more. I tried to get back towards the end of the second and thankfully it wasn't too late to do that," Eugenie said at the end of the match.
Bouchard, a wild card, is on a comeback trail after suffering a shoulder injury in 2021, didn't want to look too far ahead despite being in the last-eight stage of the competition. "It is about taking it one step at a time and not thinking too far ahead," she said.
Earlier in the evening, 17year-old Linda Fruhvirtova from Czech Republic registered a 6-4, 6-2 win over fifth seeded Rebecca Peterson of Sweden.
