Eugenie Bouchard advanced to the semi-finals of the Luxembourg Open tennis tournament on Thursday when her quarter-final opponent, Andrea Petkovic of Germany, retired with a leg injury in the second set.
Petkovic was leading by a set after she broke Bouchard in the final game of the first to take it 6-4.
Bouchard, from Westmount, Que., jumped out to an 2-0 early lead in the second with dominant service play. Petkovic called the trainer, then played tentatively through two more games before withdrawing with Bouchard leading the set 4-0.
Bouchard had nine aces in the match and was good on 73 per sent of first serves.
The Canadian, who has won six matches in a row for the first time since 2014, faces top seed Julia Goerges in the semi-finals on Friday. Goerges is the world’s No. 9 women’s player. Bouchard was ranked 108th before this tournament but that is certain to improve after her performance here.
On Wednesday, Bouchard played what is almost certainly her best match in years, defeating No. 3 seed Carla Suárez Navarro of Spain 6-1, 6-0 to advance to the quarter-finals.
Against Suárez Navarro, the Canadian star showed flashes of the form that brought her to No. 5 in the world several years ago before a precipitous decline set in.
She won the first set in just 27 minutes, striking 11 winners in comparison to just four unforced errors.
The Spaniard had a discussion with her coach between sets, but nothing worked for her as Bouchard kept painting the lines with her powerful ground strokes.
Bouchard was even better in the second set, during which she hit 15 winners and made just two unforced errors. wrapping up the match in just 53 minutes.
It’s been a rare winning streak for the 24-year-old Canadian who advanced on Tuesday to the Round of 16 after defeating Timea Babos of Hungary 6-4, 6-2.
Babos had defeated Bouchard both times they played previously but the Canadian star had the advantage of lots of practice by having to win three qualifying matches just to reach the main draw.