Tennis Wrap: Bouchard bounces back; Rafael Nadal is still unstoppable on clay

EUGENIE Bouchard has been living a nightmare for the past 12 months but finally, she gave us what we’ve been waiting for.

Eugenie Bouchard enjoyed a rare win.

FINALLY Eugenie Bouchard has something to celebrate.

The 24-year-old has had a miserable run of late but bounced back with an important straight sets win over Kateryna Bondarenko in Montreal as Canada takes on Ukraine in the Fed Cup.

Bouchard disposed of Bondarenko 6-2 7-5 to square the best-of-five tie up at 1-1 after Ukraine claimed the opening singles encounter.

Bouchard’s returning was on song, particularly in a dominant first set in which she won the last four games.

Bondarenko’s serve was off, double faulting 13 times, but she said that was because of the pressure being put on her from the other end of the court.

“She was returning hard so I tried to do something different,” she said.

Ukraine is the heavy favourite but Bouchard’s performance — after teammate Bianca Andreescu retired hurt in the third set of her singles match against Lesia Tsurenko — has given Canada hope of a surprise upset.

It’s an important World Group II playoff between the countries, with the loser set to be relegated to zonal play.

Her result against Bondarenko will be a welcome bright spot for Bouchard given she’s had little to smile about with her on-court fortunes.

Winners are grinners.

Bouchard lost in the second round of this year’s Australian Open and prior to that had suffered first round defeats in nine of her past 12 tournaments stretching back to the 2017 French Open.

The Taiwan Open, where she reached the quarter-finals before being ousted by Yafan Wang 4-6 0-6, was her most successful tournament of 2018, shortly before a straight-sets thrashing at the hands of Sachia Vickery in the first round at Indian Wells.

Bouchard advanced to the second round in Miami but lost to Sara Errani in her tournament opener in Charleston earlier this month.

The disappointing run of results saw the former World No. 5 slip to 117th in the WTA rankings.

But Bouchard has kept the faith, insisting the tide will turn with the more matches she plays.

“I’m trying to work,” she said before her match against Bondarenko. “You can’t always make finals of grand slams every single year, so you’ve got to keep working until it clicks again. That’s where I’m at.”

We see you, #GenieArmy! pic.twitter.com/VUqiqhLBix

— Tennis Canada (@TennisCanada) April 21, 2018

ABSURD NUMBERS BEHIND RAFA’S RAMPAGE

Defending champion Rafael Nadal remains on course for an 11th Monte Carlo Masters title after beating Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 6-1 in the semi-finals.

It looked a straightforward afternoon for the 31-year-old Spaniard when he clinched the first three games but Dimitrov worked his way back with a quick break to make it 3-3.

Nadal edged the opening set in the 10th game with a blistering forehand before he raced into a 5-0 lead in the second to stamp his authority on the match. He wrapped up the victory in an hour and 31 minutes and extended his run of consecutive sets won on clay to 34.

Nadal needs to win the Masters 1000 tournament to retain the No. 1 ranking ahead of Roger Federer, and will face Japan’s Kei Nishikori in Sunday’s final.

“Every year is different and equally special,” Nadal said after beating Dimitrov for the 11th time in 12 career meetings. “I really don’t care if I am favourite or I am not favourite.

“I go on court, I try my best. I want to win. Doesn’t matter if I am the favourite or I am not the favourite.

“So I’ll just focus on doing the things that I have to do to give me another chance tomorrow. That’s it.

“I don’t want to think about another title yet, I just want to think about the way I have to play and try to be ready for it.”

Can anyone stop Rafael Nadal?

Nishikori fought back from a set down to beat Germany’s Alexander Zverev 3-6 6-3 6-4 to reach his first Masters final since 2016 in Montreal and said while he believes there’s a way to beat Nadal on his favourite surface, it won’t be easy.

“I’m sure there is a way to beat him. But, you know, to see him this week, it looks a little bit difficult,” admitted Nishikori.

“I hope I can find, you know, the way to beat him. Yeah, especially on clay he’s the king. So, yeah, I will discuss it with my coach tonight.”

Nadal has had a much smoother run to the final than Nishikori, playing half as many games to get there as the Japanese star.

His victory over Dimitrov also saw the Spaniard win 34 consecutive sets on clay, beating his previous best of 32.

If Nadal defeats Nishikori and claims his 11th Monte Carlo title, he will break the record for most titles at a single tournament in the Open era — outdoing himself.

He currently has 10 career titles at Monte Carlo, Barcelona and the French Open.

Rafael Nadal beats Grigor Dimitrov to advance to the final in Monte Carlo.

He's trying for his 11th title there, which would break a tie for the most titles at a single tournament in the Open Era.

He's currently tied with himself, and... himself again. pic.twitter.com/qSc5MjsZoS

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) April 21, 2018

Games played to reach the final of the 2018 Monte Carlo Masters
Kei Nishikori: 128
Rafa Nadal: 64

— Christopher Clarey (@christophclarey) April 21, 2018

Career win-loss record on clay: 395-35 (91.86%).
Record on clay since start of 2017: 30-1 (96.77%) https://t.co/Uqj4Io922N

— Christopher Clarey (@christophclarey) April 21, 2018

Rafael Nadal is having a very easy time of things on clay. Nobody even pushing him to 5-5 in a set. https://t.co/LvP0tCsRko

— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) April 21, 2018