Eugenie Bouchard of Montreal, Quebec is in the final eight of the 2020 Prague Open. On Thursday, Bouchard defeated Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia in the second round 7-6, 6-7, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals.
Bouchard’s serve was working at a high level in her second round win. She had six aces, a first serve percentage of 63%, and won 72% of her first serve points.
Bouchard also had success in breaking Zidansek’s serve. She broke Zidansek five times in the two hour and 52 second tilt. This was the second time in Bouchard’s career she played Zidansek. Their previous battle came in the first round of Wimbledon in 2019, as Zidansek won 6-3, 5-7, 8-6.
This was the second quarterfinal berth for Bouchard in 2020. Back in January, Bouchard reached the quarterfinals of the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand. In the first round, Bouchard defeated 2013 Wimbledon semifinalist Kirsten Flipkens of Geel, Belgium 7-5, 7-5 in the first round, and then Caroline Garcia of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France 6-4, 6-4 in the second round.
In Prague on Friday, Bouchard will be playing Elise Mertens of Leuven, Belgium in the quarterfinals. Mertens is the third seed and currently ranked 23rd in the world. Head-to-head Mertens has beaten Bouchard thrice, including the first round of the 2018 Rogers Cup in Montreal, where Mertens won 6-2, 6-4. The favourite to win the tournament in Prague is the reigning Wimbledon champion, Simona Halep of Romania.
