Eugenie Bouchard crashed out of the Luxembourg Open on Friday despite at one point being only two points away from winning her semi-final against No. 1 seed Julia Goerges.
Bouchard was serving for the match at 5-4 and 30-30 in the second set but lost 9 of the next 10 games and was eliminated 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-1.
The Canadian star,who was once ranked as high as No. 5 in the world, showed flashes of her vintage best against Goerges, currently the world’s No. 9-ranked woman, and needed just one break to seal the hard-fought first set. The second set was tight but the third was a runaway for Goerges.
It was a heart-breaking end to one of the best weeks of tennis in years for the 24-year-old Bouchard.
She won six straight matches – three in qualifying and three in the main draw – to make it into Friday’s semi-final. She also played what was probably her best match in years when she defeated No. 3 seed Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-1, 6-0 in the second round.