Eugenie Bouchard wins junior girls’ singles title at Wimbledon

Eugenie Bouchard took full advantage of her final opportunity as a junior at Wimbledon, capturing the girls' singles title and advancing to the girls' doubles final all within a matter of hours on Saturday.

The 18-year-old of Westmount, Que., defeated Elina Svitolina 6-2, 6-2 en route to becoming the first Canadian woman to win a Grand Slam singles title. She then joined U.S. doubles partner Taylor Townsend and defeated fellow Canadian Francoise Abanda -- who lost in the singles semis yesterday -- and partner Sachia Vickery.

"I'm really excited, I'm really proud of myself and happy with how this week has gone," Bouchard said on a conference call. "I played really well in the final, stayed calm, stayed focused and played the way I wanted to play."

Saturday was Bouchard's first appearance in a Grand Slam singles final after falling in both the French Open and Australian Open semi finals earlier this year. But there's something about playing at the All England Club, that Bouchard feels makes Wimbledon more unique than any other tournament or Grand Slam.

"I think Wimbledon is the best [Grand] Slam, the grass courts, it has a special feel that no other [Grand] Slam can compete with so to win at Wimbledon is really special," she said.

And now with just one junior Grand Slam left to play -- the U.S. Open in August -- Bouchard has began thinking about the next step in her career.

"I'm going to transition into pros and hopefully win a real Grand Slam one day. That's my ultimate goal, she said."

Tomorrow she and Townsend will have the chance to capture the junior girls' doubles crown when they take on the team of Belinda Bencic of Switzerland and Ana Konjuh of Croatia. But Bouchard also hopes to take in some of the action on the final day of Wimbledon, specifically the men's final where she's rooting for Roger Federer to stop Andy Murray from winning his first Grand Slam, and the junior boys' final where fellow Canadian Felip Peliwo will trade serves with Australian Luke Saville, the No. 1 junior-ranked player.

Peliwo will be looking for the same success Bouchard had when he hits the court Sunday. The 18-year-old Vancouver native is 0-2 in Grand Slam finals with losses at both the Australian Open and French Open earlier this season.