With a Centre Court slot on a rainy day, Genie Bouchard advances to Wimbledon quarter-finals

WIMBLEDON – When all is said and done, tongues undoubtedly will be wagging about the decision to schedule Canadian Genie Bouchard on Centre Court, while 2004 champion, reigning French Open champion and all-round women's tennis icon Maria Sharapova ended up on Court 1.

Because with several more rain delays Monday – somewhat unexpected, unlike Saturday, because the probability of precipitation was only at 20 per cent for part of the afternoon – the 20-year-old Canadian is safely into the Wimbledon quarterfinals after playing most of her 7-6 (5), 7-5 win over No. 25 seed Alizé Cornet of France under the safety of the court's retractable roof.

Cornet was leading 3-2, on serve, when the rains came, the tarp went down, the tenting apparatus went up, the tarp was raised, the roof was closed, the tent was lowered, the tarp was removed, and the players warmed up again. All of that took 34 minutes, which is pretty Wimb-efficient.

Sharapova is seeded No. 5. Her scheduled fourth-round opponent Monday, Angelique Kerber of Germany, is seeded No. 9. But Bouchard, the No. 13 seed, got the roof and all its benefits while those two, who will play for the opportunity to meet Bouchard in the quarterfinals, could do nothing but look up at the sky and wait all day.

But none of that is Bouchard's call. The Canadian was poised in her second career C entre Court experience in weathering a second-set hot streak by Cornet, whose dramatics on court are infamous but who was quite composed Monday.

After winning the first set in a tiebreak, Bouchard was down 3-5 in the second set but ran the table the rest of the way. She seemed to just step it up that wee bit, maybe an additional 10 percent of aggressiveness on her return games, when she found herself in a situation where the match could easily go to a third set and therefore become much more of a crap shoot.

By 5-5 in the second, the tempo was picking up significantly in a match that, to that point, had featured some decent tennis but not a whole lot of atmosphere or spark even though by then, Centre Court (in theory laying in wait for the next match featuring Andy Murray) had filled up.

With Cornet serving at 5-6, Bouchard quickly went up love-30 and really should have broken at love. Cornet made a backhand drop shot at that point that looked like a bail-out play but turned out to be a piece of art. At 15-30, Bouchard made two big swinging forehand volleys but, because she nearly always goes cross-court with those, Cornet was waiting both times and defended. Bouchard overhit a third attempt badly.

But it was only a matter of time; Bouchard won the next two points and in an hour and 47 minutes (not including the 34-minute delay), was into her first Wimbledon quarterfinal.

That's at least the quarter-final stage at all three Grand Slams this season for the Canadian.

And it's worth noting that both here and at the Australian Open, Bouchard took full advantage of an opponent who had just beaten No. 1 seed Serena Williams in the previous round and may have been somewhat flat, because regardless of the form Williams is in, it takes a whole lot out of her opponent to beat her. In Australia, it was Ana Ivanovic.

Now, Bouchard must wait to see what happens with Sharapova and Kerber and, above all, find out when she will play her quarter-final. On paper, in theory, it should be Tuesday – Canada Day, when Milos Raonic also is scheduled to play (the fourth round, in his case).

Mother Nature will make that call, though.

Bouchard is the first Canadian to advance to the quarter-finals of Wimbledon (in singles) in the Open era, which means since 1968. Raonic, who plays Kei Nishikori of Japan in the fourth round, could make it two in 24 hours if he wins Wednesday. She's also the only player on the women's side who has made it to the quarter-finals or better of all three Grand Slams this season.