ASB Classic: Eugenie Bouchard says she has no great expectations

Canada's Eugenie Bouchard is rebuilding and placing no expectations on herself. Photo / Photosport

Eugenie Bouchard has "no expectations" about her results in 2020, and so far that strategy is working out well for the popular Canadian.

The wildcard progressed to ASB Classic quarter-finals yesterday, after an impressive 6-4 6-4 victory over eighth seed Caroline Garcia.

Bouchard arrived in Auckland after the worst season of her career — she lost 13 straight first round matches at one point — and ended the year ranked outside the top 250 in the world.

It was a staggering fall from grace, considering Bouchard reached No5 in 2014 and is a former Wimbledon finalist. But, to her credit, the world No262 has persisted with tennis, when many were writing her off, and is determined to find a way back.

"I had no expectations [coming here]" admitted Bouchard yesterday. "I want to keep having no expectations, at least results-wise. I have expectations on myself, my actions, what I try to do on court. [But] my ranking has dropped and I try to see it as I am rebuilding and in a way have no pressure. Leave it all out there and go for it.

"I worked really hard in the offseason, so I want to run down every ball and fight to the last ball because you never know what can happen," said Bouchard.

She served strongly, only giving up one break, and constantly put Garcia under pressure with her searching returns. Bouchard also held her nerve well. She incurred a time violation warning on set point in the first set — to her obvious disdain — but still nailed the serve.

Both players gave up breaks in the second set but the 25-year-old Bouchard came up with the right recipe when it mattered.

World No15 Petra Martic was another seed to fall yesterday, upset by Alize Cornet (No60) 3-6 6-4 6-4.

The Croatian had never reached the latter stages in Auckland across six previous appearances, but looked to have a great chance this year, after landing in the weakest quarter of the draw.

She was relatively untroubled in taking the first set, as the often volatile Cornet seemed to be battling demons.

But the Frenchwoman is a mercurial talent and battled her way back into the contest with some crisp ground strokes, moving the 1.81m Martic around the court.

She secured a break in each of the final two sets and was good enough to hang on, serving out the match in some style with three consecutive aces, after two hours and 16 minutes.

Cornet will play world No83 Jessica Pegula in the last eight tomorrow, after the American trumped Tamara Zidansek (Slovenia) 6-2 6-3 in 61 minutes.