Elina Svitolina has never lost to Eugenie Bouchard on the WTA tour. The last time the Canadian had a win against the Ukraine was in 2012, both were playing on the juniors tour and Genie beat Elina to conquer the Wimbledon juniors title. When both promising WTA stars entered the professional tour, Eugenie did gain the spotlight first, after her fabulous 2014 season with 2 Grand Slam semis and a Wimbledon runner-up appearance, but has now lost 4 times in a row to the Ukrainian.
Elina beat Eugenie in the final of the WTA of Kuala Lumpur with the final score of 6-7(5) 6-4 7-5 after 2 hours and 53 minutes of dramatic battle, with the match stopped few times by rain showers and concluding past midnight local time.
Bouchard served for the match but failed to capitalize on her opportunities, losing her 5th final of the 6 played on the WTA tour. It seems Eugenie falls under pressure when having to close the important matches. As the title win approaches, she tends to become inconsistent as she was against Svitolina in Kuala Lumpur.
For Svitolina the title in Kuala Lumpur is the 4th WTA title in her career, the first in 2016. With the win, the Ukrainian has also ensured a new best ranking at World No.14 starting on Monday. Svitolina has already the game to break the top 10, a feat she might be able to achieve quite soon if she can keep her level up and avoid inconsistent performances in big events the way she did in Melbourne early this year.
Bouchard will be back in the top 50 at World No.42. Genie is working her way back, and should soon be able to at least grant herself a top 20 spot. Step by step, the Canadian will have to regain the confidence and slight arrogance that allowed her to break big two years ago, as her tennis remains top class material.
