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Australia’s 17th seed Ashleigh Barty will face a dangerous encounter in the second round at Wimbledon when she takes on Eugenie Bouchard. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 8:30pm (AEST).
This, on paper looking at achievements, shapes as an intriguing battle. They won the junior Wimbledon championships (Bouchard in 2011 and Barty in 2012) and have both had runs at different tournaments and grand slams.
That’s where the similarities stop though. It’s incredibly difficult to know exactly what to make of the plight Bouchard has faced over the past two or three years.
While she is a social media sensation among other off court endeavours, her on court play has, frankly, been poor at best and terrible at worst.
Coming into Wimbledon, the 2014 finalist here was ranked outside the top 100 and had to come through the qualifiers, where, to be fair, she excelled. A ranking of 188 doesn’t accurately describe the talents of Bouchard, who will be in for a rise after getting over Gabriella Taylor in the first round.
The Canadian’s serve and volley has been one of her biggest assets over the yers and it seemed to return during the four matches she has played so far at Wimbledon following injury and a weak clay court season.
At the other end of the court, the 22-year-old Barty has never looked in better form. She is ranked 17th in the world as we speak and dominated a few weeks ago at Nottingham to claim tournament victory.
Barty then went to the quarter-finals of Eastbourne, with scalps across the tournaments including Naomi Osaka, Johanna Konta and Stefanie Voegele.
She then came out and dominated her first round clash at The Championships, with a straightforward straight sets victory over Stefanie Voegele paving the way for her.
The Australian has had her serve firing for her whenever she has needed it, which is a great asset to have on grass. It’s not the fastest in the game, but it’s accurate and allows opponents few opportunities to get into service games.
If she keeps that up, she shouldn’t have too many problems putting away the inconsistent Bouchard.
Prediction
Bouchard has failed to win big matches in the last year or two, which is no small surprise given her drastic move down the rankings. It’s hard to see her beating a composed and controlled Barty here.
Barty in three sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of this second-round match at Wimbledon from 8:30pm (AEST) and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below.