All eyes were on hometown favorite Eugenie Bouchard, who is playing the final tournament of her career in Montreal. With a jacked-up crowd cheering her on, not quite ready to say goodbye to the former Wimbledon finalist, Bouchard rallied to defeat Emiliana Arango, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2, in a hard-fought match on Centre Court.
The crowd showed the love — and made the noise — for the former World No. 5, and it gave Bouchard a lift. But as the 31-year-old explained, as empowering as that support can be, there’s a measure of composure needed to stay in the moment, stay in the point, and stay true to your game. That can be challenging when the adrenaline is flowing like that.
Bouchard, of course, is no stranger to these kinds of moments, with all the spotlight staring down at you, having reached two Slam semifinals in addition to the Wimbledon final. But with her retirement hanging in the balance, she had to focus on keeping her emotions in check.
“The crowd was really helpful in terms of motivating me and giving me energy,” she said after the match. “But at the same time … it can make me lose focus. I don’t want to get too excited or too high, because you still have the rest of the match to play. There were definitely moments where I had to kind of almost block out the noise and pretend it was a normal point.”
Next up for Bouchard is 17th-seeded Belinda Bencic, who has defeated the Canadian in all three of their previous meetings. (They last met in Ostrava in 2022, a three-set win for the Swiss star.)
“I know it will be a crazy tough match,” Bouchard said. “… She loves to take it early, change direction. I’ve had some battles against her, so I’m looking forward to it.”
Fernandez will have to wait for more Shake Shack
Fresh off the biggest title of her career at the WTA 500 Mubadala Citi Open, Leylah Fernandez returned to her hometown of Montreal, looking to ride that momentum into the Omnium Banque Nationale.
But would she have the proper fuel to make a run?
And by fuel, we mean Shake Shack.
The World No. 24 feasted on burgers, hot dogs and cheese fries after defeating Taylor Townsend and Elena Rybakina in the quarterfinals and semifinals in D.C., respectively. And naturally, after dominating Anna Kalinskaya in the final, she continued the tradition. (Tennis players are quite superstitious, if you hadn’t noticed.)
After answering question from the media following the win, Fernandez and her team packed up quickly and made a pit stop at the fast food joint for some celebratory burgers and hot dogs.
“We couldn’t stop the routine,” she said.
But upon arriving in Montreal for the WTA 1000 event, she expressed some concern that there might not be any Shake Shacks in Montreal.
“I don’t know,” she told reporters. “We’re going to have to find a different type of routine, but we’re just going to take it one day at a time.”
As it turns out, her concerns were warranted. There aren’t any Shake Shack locations in Montreal (though there are in Toronto, so she’ll be in good hands next year). She was going to have to find a replacement, but that won’t be necessary following her disappointing 6-4, 6-1 loss to Australian Maya Joint in the first round.
She’ll be happy to know, though, that she’ll have the opportunity to reunite with the chain in Cincinnati. (We looked into it for you, Leylah — there are two locations in Cincy.) And in New York at the end of the summer, she’ll be in Shake Shack heaven.
All in all, despite the early exit in Canada, it was a hell of a month, and a delicious one, for Fernandez.
Mboko’s power on display on Centre Court
What a moment for 18-year-old rising star Victoria Mboko. Playing in the main draw at a Canadian event for the first time in your young career — at one of the most prestigious tournaments on the Hologic WTA Tour, no less — the Canadian rose to the occasion, topping Australian Kimberly Birrell, 7-5, 6-3, in straight sets.
Mboko, up to No. 85 in the world, admitted that her nerves were heightened in front of her home crowd.
“Growing up, [the] National Bank Open was always a tournament for a lot of young Canadian kids like me,” she said after the win. “It was always basically in our backyard for us to watch. I think playing an event like this, where you were able to watch it and go see it live all the time, it’s a bit different [than] any other tournament. And to play in front of Canadians, you want to put on a good performance and you want to do well.”
Mboko, who’s posted a remarkable 46-9 record this year, did well. Her straight-sets win was due, in large part, to her booming serve. She fired 15 aces to Birrell’s four and won 71.4 percent of her first-serve points.
“I just wanted to have a really good first-serve percentage,” she said, “but I didn’t know that I was going to serve like that. But it gave me a lot of advantages and free points.”
Next up for Mboko, in the second round — again on Centre Court — is 23rd-seeded American Sofia Kenin on Tuesday.