By Adrianna Outlaw | Saturday, March 5, 2016
Genie Bouchard advanced to her second final of the year where she will face No. 2-seeded Elina Svitolina.
Photo credit: BMW Malaysian Open
Fans waving the Canadian flag celebrated Genie Bouchard's 6-4, 6-3, Kuala Lumpur semifinal win over Naomi Broady today.
The Genie Army is mobilizing as Bouchard is becoming a weekend warrior again.
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Bouchard will face second-seeded Elina Svitolina in the Kuala Lumpur final. Svitolina swept Chinese qualifier Zhu Lin, 6-3, 6-3, to reach her first final of the season.
The 19th-ranked Ukrainian will contest her first final since she won Marrakech on red clay last May. Svitolina has won all three prior meetings with Bouchard, with two of those matches going the distance.
The sixth-seeded Canadian advanced to her second final of the season with an impressive win against the big-serving Broady.
Bouchard withstood 10 aces and protected her own serve with vigilance. She won 25 of 30 first-serve points and denied all three break points she faced in a 76-minute victory.
The 2014 Wimbledon finalist endured a nightmare 2015, falling in the first round seven times last season and pulling the plug on her season after suffering a concussion at the US Open. A Hobart finalist in January, Bouchard has realized early-season resurgence striving for weekly improvement.
"I got here early for the tournament and I was working really hard in practice just trying to improve different areas of my game," Bouchard told WTATennis.com. "I feel like I've improved already since last week and for me that's just my goal right now — to improve every single week."