Genie's Oz Love Affair continues

Semi Finalist from 2014 Canadian Eugenie Bouchard was seeking a fourth round berth and for that to eventuate French player Caroline Garcia would need stopping.  Garcia at 36 in the world and already the victor over dual major winner Sveta Kuznetsova posed a challenge but Bouchard has been a revelation in women's tennis over the past 18 months or so and her star appears to be still be on the rise with number one not out of the question at some point.

The opening game was a signal of what the first set had to offer - insecurity of serve.  Bouchard played some loose point losing shots while Garcia was sharp when it counted and the French cheered a 1-0 advantage. That elation was short lived and the error count began for Caroline in the next game providing the means for a service break for Bouchard.

Even when racing to 40-0 nothing could be guaranteed as Bouchard frittered away that comfort including a double fault;  she steadied though and an ace assisted her through to the first service hold of the match.  Then one of the rare times service was held twice in a row - Garcia peppered the Canadian backhand and her preoccupation paid off with four successive errors allowing the game score to reach 2-2.

Bouchard, her own worst enemy, from 40-15 created difficulty from nowhere and a double fault and carelessness prompted Garcia to hit a winner on break point and take the advantage.

Then the 24 point game !  From 40-30 and game point, we went to deuce 9 times, Garcia had two more game points, and Bouchard had seven break points, the final one which was converted into a break of serve.  After all of that toil and pain 3-3.

Instead of being totally deflated, Garcia bounced back, breaking Bouchard with a combination of winning groundstrokes and volley.  Bouchard realised the end of the set was drawing near so she claimed the fourth break in succession and then held serve to lead 5-4.  The 7th seed had strung a few winners together, finding gaps between the litter of Garcia's unforced errors which were strewn all over the court.

At 5-6 Garcia soon gave Bouchard three set points thanks to some backhand fragility, but it was a mistake from the forehand that signed the final release of set one to Genie Bouchard 7-5.

In the second set, Bouchard's first serve percentage was a woeful 42% but when the opposition is incapable of little better and is playing such erratic tennis as that contributed by Garcia, then the 6-0 scoreline is hardly a surprise.

Eugenie Bouchard strode into the fourth round 7-5 6-0 but plenty of room to sharpen her game.