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Canada Breathes Sigh of Relief After Day One of Fed Cup

Feb 8th 2014

MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA – While many of the thousands in attendance at the Complexe Sportif Claude Robillard came to see the first match on home soil for Eugenie Bouchard after her Australian Open semifinal run, the real excitement for Canada came before she ever stepped out on court.

Canadian Fed Cup Team

Aleksandra Wozniak, the 26-year-old veteran from Blainville, Quebec, won her Canadian Fed Cup 30th singles rubber with a tense 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 victory over Serbian top seed Vesna Dolonc to give Canada a 1-0 lead in the World Group II opening round. Bouchard followed the performance with a dominant 6-1, 6-0 win over rookie Jovana Jaksic. The pair of victories gives Canada a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five tie.

Wozniak, who ranked as high as No. 21 back in the summer of 2009, returned to the Canadian team that has meant so much to her after a series of injuries and illnesses kept her off the roster last year.

It was an emotional win for me,” said Wozniak after the two hour, 31 minute marathon. “I wanted so badly to be back on the Fed Cup team.”

It was a tale of two halves in the opening set. After 25 minutes, it looked as if Serbia was going to walk away with the opening rubber. Wozniak looked tight, spraying balls wide and long, not serving with any pop. Down a double break, trailing 5-1 in the opening set, Wozniak settled the ship and thanks to six double faults by Dolonc, including one set point, Canada was first on the board.

Dolonc rebounded in the second set, making good on 16-of-20 first serves and dominated Wozniak, 6-2, in just 34 minutes.

With a supportive Canaidan contingent, Wozniak found herself in familiar territory, down double break point serving in the opening game of the deciding set. And like she did during the opening frame, she battled back to hold. Both players were able to hold serve until the sixth game when Wozniak broke first. An exchange of breaks led to matchpoint and a heartfelt embrace with captain Sylvain Bruneau at the Canadian bench.

Dolonc and Wozniak met once before, in the opening round of the 2013 US Open when Wozniak rose victorious in two close sets. With no top Serbians in tow like Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic, or Bojana Jovanovski, the team turned to the 117th ranked Dolonc to serve as its top-seeded player in the tie. Pressure she couldn’t handle on this day in Canada.

The second rubber seemed to be over before it even started.

Wearing a Maple Leaf painted on her right cheek, Bouchard overpowered Jaskic with every blistering forehand. The overmatched Jaksic scored only six points in the 22-minute final set.

Eugenie Bouchard Fed Cup

When asked after the match if she could have done anything better, Bouchard, always the competitor, had an answer. “I could’ve won 0 and 0,” Bouchard responded. I’m just happy with the way I played for sure. It’s my first match since the Australian Open. I was happy to go in and play aggressive. I think I was able to keep the momentum even after winning the first set 6-1. It was important to go in and keep focused.”

Many athletes experience some level of letdown after competing against the world’s best like Bouchard did, having reached the final four in Melbourne just two weeks ago. Already known for her maturity and competiveness, Bouchard seemed to get angry at herself when giving up a single point to Jaksic, despite the one-sided outcome.

Canadian Captain Sylvain Bruneau recognized that Bouchard was having one of those special matches.

You try not to disturb the player,” Bruneau laughed. “Genie played really, really well. She played flawless tennis. Actually her opponent is a good player. [Genie] just played so well that it made her look like she’s not that good. Genie took the ball early and hit deep. She was very confident and played really well.”

When the initial draw came out following Canada’s promotion to World Group II play for the 2014 Fed Cup by BNP Paribas season, most fans in the Great White North weren’t too optimistic. Serbia, currently ranked No. 4 in the world, possessed two of the more prominent players on the WTA Tour - Jelena Jankovic (No. 8) and Ana Ivanovic (No. 12). Then that improbable run in Melbourne happened for 19-year-old Eugenie Bouchard and the top three Serbians were a no-show in Montreal. After the first day of competition, Canada clearly sits in the driver’s seat.

International Tennis Federation venue regulations mandated Tennis Canada to host the tie in a facility that could seat a few thousand fans. Prior to the first Grand Slam of the season, Canadian officials were a little concerned with the pace of ticket sales. Thanks to Bouchard, it was hard to find an open seat. With nearly 3,000  tickets sold after Bouchard’s Australian Open semifinal appearance, an enthusiastic home crowd at Complexe Sportif Claude Robillard came to show their appreciation for the next big thing – their next big thing. The crowd rose in unison when Bouchard stepped on court during warm-ups and sent her off victorious in similar style.

During the opening ceremony, Tennis Canada honoured the late Canadian Fed Cup captain/player Rene Simpson Collins with an award in her name to be given annually to a promising young female athlete.

Canada’s tennis sweetheart has a chance to close out the tie for Canada in the first rubber on Sunday when she faces Dolonc. A win for the home team will put them into the World Group playoffs in April.

Michael Cvitkovic served as head of communications and media relations for Tennis Canada and Rogers Cup Toronto from 2006-2011.