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Wimbledon Day 10 recap: Kvitova, Bouchard to play for title

LONDON -- The Wimbledon women's final is set -- the first Grand Slam title match between two players born in the 1990s. Petra Kvitova, 24, the 2011 champion,
Courtney Nguyen|
Wimbledon Day 10 recap: Kvitova, Bouchard to play for title
Wimbledon Day 10 recap: Kvitova, Bouchard to play for title

LONDON -- The Wimbledon women's final is set -- the first Grand Slam title match between two players born in the 1990s. Petra Kvitova, 24, the 2011 champion, and Eugenie Bouchard, 20, will battle on Saturday. Here's a look at how they got there on Day 10:

What happened?

Petra Kvitova is back where she belongs: When Kvitova marched to the title three years ago, she was filled with promise. Powered by a monstrous left-handed serve and flat, penetrating groundstrokes, the Czech was touted to become a consistently dominant force. Despite being a top-10 constant, however, she's underachieved. It's taken Kvitova time to adjust to the expectations and pressure, as before this week she had made only two major semifinals since her breakthrough.

Bouchard shows composure, sets up Wimbledon final against Kvitova

She's been plenty comfortable at the All England Club this year, taking advantage of a soft draw to reach her first Slam final in three years. On Thursday, she defeated her highest-seeded opponent so far, No. 23 Lucie Safarova, 7-6 (6), 6-1, improving to 5-0 against her countrywoman in 2014.

"These three years [since her Wimbledon title] were really up and down," Kvitova said. "I knew that a lot of people are expecting something more than I did probably. But on the other side, I was still in the top 10 and I did everything I could. I was practicing very hard. But it's never easy."

Eugenie Bouchard beats Simona Halep to reach Wimbledon final

Eugenie Bouchard goes a step farther:

It was 10 years ago that a blonde basher stood on Centre Court in her first major final and upended a former champion. Bouchard may not love the comparisons to Maria Sharapova, but she won't mind a bit if a similar scenario unfolds on Saturday.

Photo of the day

Video of the day

Press conference moment of the day

Question:

You're now set to play in the biggest match on the biggest court in the biggest tournament. The other day you were talking your favorite show is the Big Bang Theory. Do you think this is a kind of a big bang?

Eugenie Bouchard:

Someone made that really lame joke a few days ago. I called him out on it. So I'm going to have to say that was really lame again.

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Courtney Nguyen
COURTNEY NGUYEN

Contributor, SI.com Nguyen is a freelance writer for SI.com, providing full coverage of professional tennis both on and off the court. Her content has become a must-read for fans and insiders to stay up-to-date with a sport that rarely rests. She has appeared on radio and TV talk shows all over the world and is one of the co-hosts of No Challenges Remaining, a weekly podcast available on iTunes. Nguyen graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 1999 and received a law degree from the University of California, Davis in 2002. She lives in the Bay Area.

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