We keep hearing that Eugenie Bouchard will be a tennis champion some day. Unfortunately, that day wasn't Saturday.
Petra Kvitova easily took care of Bouchard 6-3, 6-0 to win the Wimbledon's ladies singles final. Bouchard at time looked overwhelmed by Kvitova's powerful serves. This was Kvitova's second Wimbledon title, having won in 2011. The match was the shortest women's Wimbledon final since 1983.
The result doesn't diminish Bouchard's Wimbledon tournament nor her 2014 success. Her victory over Simona Halep was the first time Bouchard had beaten a top 5 seeded player. She is still the only woman to have reached the semifinals in all the 2014 Grand Slam events. Bouchard lost to the eventual winner in all three tournaments.
The U.S. Open should prove to be an interesting tournament for Bouchard. She was the #13 seed at Wimbledon, but she'll have a harder time sneaking up on people.
Bouchard got a wonderful reception from the Centre Court crowd and the ESPN commentators, especially Chrissie Evert, were very positive about the 20-year-old Canadian tennis star.
Evert pointed out that in her first Wimbledon, she only won 3 games against Billie Jean King, same as Bouchard. However, Evert's memory is a bit off: she lost to Billie Jean King 6–0, 7–5 in 1973.
Previous coverage:
Genie's Army gets set for Bouchard Wimbledon final
Bouchard, Raonic in Wimbledon quarterfinals
Eugenie Bouchard opening eyes to Canadian tennis
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Milos Raonic made history by becoming the first Canadian male in the Open era to make the semifinals at Wimbledon. Raonic got overshadowed by the coverage of Bouchard, but he has certainly earned praise for his game.
Switzerland's Roger Federer was way too much for Raonic, taking the semifinal 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. Federer lost the singles title to Novak Djokovic on Sunday, still frozen at 7 Wimbledon titles.
Raonic became the first Canadian man in the Open Era to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal in this year's French Open. Now Raonic has done this twice in 2014.
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Vancouver's Vasek Pospisil along with American Jack Sock did walk out of Wimbledon with a championship in their first tournament as a doubles team.
They defeated Americans Bob and Mike Bryan 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
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The Toronto Blue Jays had a great run in first place, though they aren't far behind in second place. A greater concern is the loss of Edwin Encarnacion to a lower leg injury. Encarnacion injured himself trying to avoid a double play that brought home the Blue Jays only run Saturday night.
The lineup is also missing Brett Lawrie. Jose Bautista has been slowed by injuries, though he has been serving as the team's DH.
Adam Lind will replace Encarnacion at 1st base; while Lind is also having a good year, the team will badly miss Encarnacion at the plate. He is third in MLB with 26 HR along with 70 RBI.
Bautista, Encarnacion, and Mark Buehrle were named to the American League All-Star team for 2014. Bautista was the leading vote getter with 5,859,019 votes; this was his 5th All-Star selection, 4th as a starter. This is Mark Buerhle's 4th All-Star appearance, first with Toronto, and 2nd straight for Encarnacion.
Bautista is the second Blue Jays player (other than Roberto Alomar) to be voted as an All-Star starter for 4 straight seasons.
In last place in 2013, the Blue Jays had 4 players on last year's squad (Bautista, Encarnacion, Brett Cecil, Steve Delabar). Delabar was voted in by the fans.
Bautista is the captain for the Home Run Derby AL squad. Encarnacion won't be on the team with his injury. We'll know Tuesday who else will be on the squad.
The AL and NL All-Star squads are free of former Blue Jays and Expos as well as Canadians. NL fans can vote in Colorado 1st baseman Justin Morneau.
Canadians and Minnesota Twins fans should make Morneau's vote total rather high. The All-Star Game is being played in Minneapolis, the long-time baseball home for Morneau.
We'll have more about the Blue Jays next week leading into the All-Star break. The All-Star rosters will go through some revising due to injuries and other circumstances. We'll clear up the revised All-Star rosters next Monday.
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