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Halep and Bouchard aren't ready to win Grand Slam titles - yet

Roar Guru
27th January, 2015
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Eugenie Bouchard copped a zinger in the Netherlands. (AFP PHOTO / MANAN VATSYAYANA)
Roar Guru
27th January, 2015
0

Simona Halep and Eugenie Bouchard have a lot of work to do if they are to contend for Grand Slam titles in the near future.

Despite being heavily favoured to move through to the semi-finals, Halep went out in straight sets to Ekaterina Makarova.

Halep committed a mountain of unforced errors and struggled with her serve as the left-handed Russian put the world number three right on the back foot from the very start.

Makarova broke Halep’s serve twice to start the match, and forced the Romanian to play catch-up tennis for the rest of the set, before eventually sweeping through the second set without dropping a game.

Halep’s loss came 12 months after she suffered an equally embarrassing 6-3, 6-0 loss to Dominika Cibulkova in her first Grand Slam quarter-final, and it could be seen as a step backwards after she had reached the final of the French Open and the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 2014.

It marks a disappointing end to the Australian swing for Halep, who arrived in Melbourne on the back of a title in Shenzhen but was forced to bypass the Sydney International due to illness.

Her form over the previous 20 months – during which she reached the semi-finals of the Rome Masters as a qualifier, reached the French Open final and reached a career high ranking of world number two – saw her become a serial contender not just at the Grand Slams, but also at many premier tournaments around the world.

She also performed well at the WTA Finals in Singapore last year, handing Serena Williams her worst professional loss in 16 years before losing to her again in the final.

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However, Tuesday’s result shows that she still has to work on her mental side if she is to establish herself as a genuine contender at the Grand Slams.

Meanwhile, Eugenie Bouchard also tried, but couldn’t find a way past Maria Sharapova who romped into the semi-finals for the first time since 2013 by way of a straight-sets victory over the Canadian.

After Halep’s meek capitulation earlier in the day, the stakes rose even higher as the winner of the tie between Bouchard and Sharapova would have been seen as a huge chance to reach the final.

And it was the Russian who pounced, losing just five games and winning through to a semi-final showdown against compatriot Makarova, meaning a Russian is guaranteed to be represented in Saturday night’s decider.

Sharapova, the 2008 champion, will be heavily favoured to defeat her countrywoman and move into the final for the fourth time, and first since 2012, where she could face her career nemesis Serena Williams.

The Russian will, of course, have numerous nightmares about the American, having not defeated her in over a decade and suffering numerous humiliating losses against her, none more so than in the 2007 Australian Open final when Williams, then ranked 81st in the world, crushed her in straight sets.

Bouchard’s loss also marks a step backward for the Canadian after she had announced herself to the tennis world 12 months ago, reaching the semi-finals before losing to eventual champion Li Na in straight sets. She also took Sharapova to three sets in the semi-finals of the French Open, and reached the final at Wimbledon, where nerves got the better of her as Petra Kvitova dominated her from start to finish.

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The Canadian’s quarter-final exit marks the first time she has lost rankings points as a result of not matching her performance from the previous year, but despite the earlier exit this year her top-10 ranking isn’t at any immediate danger at all.

However, she will still be under pressure to go very deep at both the French Open and Wimbledon, where as mentioned before she reached the semi-finals and the final, respectively. The worst result she will have to defend at a Grand Slam this year is the fourth round of last year’s US Open.

Bouchard has stated that her goal this year is to “win a Grand Slam title”. While I can see that happening perhaps within the next two-to-three years, there is still a lot of work to do if she is to achieve that goal.

Most of her deep runs at Grand Slam tournaments have been achieved mostly as a result of higher-ranked players losing early. As an example, what was supposed to be a blockbuster quarter-final between her and Serena Williams, who in 2013 enjoyed the season from heaven, at last year’s Australian Open didn’t eventuate, neither did their projected fourth round meeting at Wimbledon later the same year.

It’s harsh to say Bouchard has simply been lucky to achieve what she has so far in her fledgling career. But while she is justifiably ranked in the top 10, sometimes the pressure can get to her.

This was the same pressure endured by Ana Ivanovic after she won the French Open in 2008. 25 months removed from becoming world number one at the age of 20, her ranking dropped to 65, her lowest since March 2005, as she suffered from high expectations, poor form and low confidence.

However, the Serb has since rediscovered the form that catapulted her into the world’s top 10 in the first place and despite her early exit from this year’s Australian Open, will remain there when the rankings are updated next week.

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Bouchard is officially yet to defeat the bigger names like Sharapova, Serena Williams (a recent win over her at the Hopman Cup doesn’t count), Agnieszka Radwanska and Petra Kvitova, while she has yet to face the injury-plagued Victoria Azarenka, who was ranked number one for much of 2012.

Azarenka is an example of a player who was able to cope with the pressure of being world number one, which she achieved after winning the Australian Open for the first time three years ago.

In fact, she won her first 26 matches of 2012 and was clearly the dominant player for most of the year, however it was also overshadowed by a dominant second half of the year for Serena Williams, who rebounded from a life-threatening foot injury to win Wimbledon and the US Open on either side of the Olympic gold medal.

Being a top player of Azarenka or Williams’ calibre is something Bouchard should embrace. While she gets the attention for her glamorous looks (as does Ivanovic), it’s her tennis that needs to do the talking.

If Bouchard and Halep are to become Grand Slam contenders, they must continue to work on their mental side, which sometimes causes them to lose either early at tournaments or matches they should win, and improve their record against some of the top players.

As an example, both Halep and Bouchard lost to Ekaterina Makarova at this year’s Australian Open and last year’s US Open, respectively; on both occasions they were heavily favoured to win.

Bouchard’s loss to Kvitova in last year’s Wimbledon final is the biggest example of pressure a player can be put under, given the enormity of the occasion. By contrast, Halep played extremely well in last year’s French Open final as she and Sharapova engaged in the first three-set women’s decider since 2001. After over three hours, Sharapova won in three sets, with Halep taking the middle set on a tiebreak.

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While the talent and ability is within Simona Halep and Eugenie Bouchard to win a Grand Slam title in the near future (perhaps possibly this year for either or both of them), it’s clear that after their quarter-final losses at the Australian Open, there is still a lot of work for them to do to achieve their goals.

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