Eugenie Bouchard made Canadian history when she played in the semifinals at the French Open on Thursday.
Bouchard, 20, lost to Russian tennis veteran Maria Sharapova, 27, in the semifinals, with a match score of with a final score of 4-6, 7-5, 2-6. The women are ranked numbers 18 and seven respectively in the WTA.
Though her loss kept her from becoming the first Canadian to ever make it to the finals of the French Open, this has been an impressive run for Bouchard, who jumped from a ranking of 144 at the beginning of this full season to 18.
Prior to the match, much had been made of Bouchard's childhood idolization of Sharapova, but the Montreal-born player made it clear she wouldn't be intimidated by that legacy while playing.
"Of course she's a great champion, so to be seen as the next of someone who has won four Slams and has been No. 1 in the world, it's a compliment," Bouchard said in an interview. "But at the same time, of course I'm my own person and I just want to be myself on the court, and try and achieve what I want to achieve and just be seen as that."
This was the second semifinals in which Bouchard played this season, after making it to the Australian Open semifinals in January.
As Sports Illustrated noted, she has an underrated defense and is particularly able to track down wide balls, making her a force to be reckoned with on the court.
Sharapova will play either Romania's Simona Halep (ranked fourth) or Germany's Andrea Petkovic (ranked 28th), to be determined in a match played later today.