Eugenie Bouchard and Maria Sharapova set up glamour Australian Open tie

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/jan/25/australian-open-day-six-women

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The Australian Open has got the glamour match the marketing gurus were praying for, but it has arrived early: Maria Sharapova vs Eugenie Bouchard, a symphony in blonde in Tuesday’s quarter-finals.

They got out of the fourth round on Sunday with vastly contrasting performances, the Russian walking all over 21st seed Shuai Peng 6-3, 6-0 in an hour-and-a-quarter for the loss of just three games, and Bouchard losing her way in the middle of grinding out a 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 win over the Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu, about whom she earlier admitted knowing little.

This reprise of their Roland Garros encounter – where Sharapova won the hugely anticipated semi-final 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 – will give the tournament a buzz, not so much for the variety and art of the tennis, perhaps, but the intensity and the noise – from the Russian and the crowd, at least.

Sharapova, who had one close call in the first week, in the second round against the Russian qualifier Alexandra Panova, will start a slight favourite.

Bouchard said after her surprisingly tough win over Begu, “Clearly I need more practice. She came up with a couple of good shots and my level dropped a little bit. Not good. [During a break] I gave myself a long, hard look in the mirror and said, ‘Genie, this is not acceptable’.

“It’s disappointing for me because I want to play so well. I want to be perfect. That’s not possible. It happens. She could string together a few good points here and there, hit some good shots and serves and got some confidence in the second set. That helped her. But I learned a lot from it and I’ll try to make sure it doesn’t happen next time.”

Next time it’s Sharapova, and Bouchard will not have the luxury of complacency. They will go into the trenches at some point, stay there until exhaustion mingles with boredom, and that is Sharapova territory.

“She’s been playing really well in this tournament and also in the slams the last year,” Sharapova acknowledged. “I expect her to come out and play a really good match. The French was a really tough match for me. I had to come back from a set down.”

Their memories coincide.

“I just remember a grind,” Bouchard said. “I didn’t feel like I was playing great tennis the whole time, some times here and there. But that’s what it’s about: trying to win and trying to always play better, get through it, even if you’re not playing your best.

“I felt like I was close with her. We were both maybe a bit off. You’re never really playing amazing – maybe 10 per cent of the year. I had chances. I was pretty disappointed after, so that’s motivating.

“But I think I’ve progressed a lot since then, and I definitely want to keep playing my game, no matter what, really take it to her, go for my shots. It’s more fun when I play that way, too.”

Not many players would regard a dog fight with Sharapova as “fun”, but Bouchard still has the wide-eyed confidence of youth.

“I have that inner belief. I know I have another gear to go to and I can still have a good chance if I keep fighting. It helped me win so many matches last year. I truly believe that I always have a chance.”

No shrinking violet is our Eugenie. Never the less, she says she will look to her rapidly expanding Australian fan base, headed by the loud, some times off-key “Genie Army”, to lift her when the going gets tough.

“I want them to start singing some Taylor Swift,” she said. “Hopefully they will see this and maybe work on it. Like, if I’m down and they start singing that, I’ll be motivated.”

Sharapova knows what to expect, because Bouchard only plays one way: with unalloyed aggression. “She’s a pretty aggressive player. She stays really close to the line, she likes to dictate the points. That’s where she’s hurt a lot of players and been really successful.”

As for the comparisons constantly made between them, Sharapova could not be less bothered.

“I was compared to [Anna] Kournikova for many years in my career and still occasionally that name always comes up in interviews and articles. That’s just part of it, part of the game, part of the business. It’s understandable. It is what it is.

“I was still a teenager, I don’t want to be the next anyone. I want to be the first Maria Sharapova. And that’s how I’ve been throughout my whole career. We all want to create our own path and go through our own career.”

What is almost certain, however, is the paths of these two fine players are likely to cross a lot more often in the years to come.