French Open: Bacsinszky beats Bouchard, wins battle of ex-semifinalists

Timea Bacsinszky’s love affair with Roland Garros continued on Thursday when she swept aside struggling Canadian Eugenie Bouchard 6-4, 6-4 to reach the third round of the French Open.

Timea Bacsinszky’s love affair with Roland Garros continued on Thursday when she swept aside struggling Canadian Eugenie Bouchard 6-4, 6-4 to reach the third round of the French Open.

Eugenie Bouchard, left, and Timea Bacsinszky shake hands at the net after the match. (AP)

A semi-finalist last year where she lost to eventual champion Serena Williams, the Swiss eighth seed trailed 1-4 in the first set before she took control, winning 10 games in a row to serve for the match at 5-0 in the second.

Bouchard, a French Open semi-finalist in 2014, the year she rose to fifth in the world, staved off defeat by winning that game and she saved a match point on her own serve to pull back to 5-2.

The fightback continued with another break of serve and a hold to get to 5-4, but Bacsinszky finally held firm on her serve at the third time of asking to seal the win.

The Swiss No1 will next play either France’s Pauline Parmentier or Irina Falconi of the United States for a place in the last 16.

“I am happy with the win especially as I was 5-0 up and then it was 5-4 and she had two chances to get to 5-5. So I really made it complicated for myself,” she said.