Bouchard books Guadalajara final against Sorribes

Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard serves the ball to Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya during their women’s singles first round tennis match on Day 1 of The Roland Garros 2020 French Open tennis tournament in Paris on September 27, 2020. (Photo by MARTIN BUREAU / AFP)

Former world number five Eugenie Bouchard beat qualifier Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-2, 7-6 (7/2) on Friday to book a title showdown with fourth-seeded Sara Sorribes Tormo at the WTA tournament in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Spain’s Sorribes reached her first tour-level final with a gritty 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) victory over second-seeded Marie Bouzkova.

Sorribes, ranked 71st in the world, denied the 50th-ranked Czech a second straight WTA finals appearance after her runner-up finish to Daria Kasatkina at the Phillip Island Trophy in Australia last month.

Sorribes trailed 5-2 in the second set, saving three set points in the 12th game to force the tiebreaker, in which she seized a 6-0 lead and won with a forehand winner on her fourth match point.

Canada’s Bouchard raced through her opening set against 20-year-old Cocciaretto without facing a break point.

She was serving for the match at 5-4 in the second when she was broken by the 134th-ranked qualifier from Italy — who beat top-seeded Nadia Podoroska in the second round.

After a strong service hold to force the tiebreaker, Bouchard powered to a 6-2 lead and sealed the victory on her first match point.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” Bouchard said of booking her first final since Istanbul last year. “I just want to play another good match tomorrow.”

In her eighth WTA final, Bouchard will be seeking a second career title. The first came at Nuremberg back in 2014, the year she burst onto the international scene by reaching the final at Wimbledon.

She rose to a career-high fifth in the world that year, but has since endured years of disappointment, fighting to return to form after suffering a concussion when she slipped in the locker room at the 2015 US Open.