In her first U.S. Open night session, Eugenie Bouchard shines, survives

NEW YORK – The U.S. Open is a completely different universe when the sun does down.

Canadian Genie Bouchard, in her first taste of the New York night life, embraced it and survived it, getting past a dangerous Sorana Cirstea to move into the third round.

"Definitely special. I felt really cool that they played 'Genie in a Bottle' during the warmup. This was like, 'All right, it's going well so far, this is pretty cool.' They played it again at the end of the match," said Bouchard, who defeated Cirstea 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-4 and now will play No. 30 seed Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic on Saturday, likely during the day session broadcast on CBS.

Bouchard said she didn't remember ever playing so late – and being in the press conference room at about 12:30 a.m. was most definitely a first. All part of the U.S. Open experience, she said.

Arthur Ashe Stadium, seating more than 23,000 with the stands stretching up to the heavens, not only contains a lot of distractions, it also poses some technical and tactical challenges.

The wind typically blows right to left as you look at the court from the umpire's chair. That, of course, is when it's not swirling because of the bowl effect of those 23,000-plus seats. Add to that that Thursday was a very windy day, generally, and Bouchard said she spent the first hour and a half trying to tame the night.

Bouchard also had to tame Cirstea, who a year ago at this time was one spot away from breaking into the top 20 and whose current No. 80 belies what she can do on the tennis court. When the Romanian gets on a confident roll, she pulverizes the ball, serves well enough to earn some free points, and can take the outcome out of her opponent's hands. And for long periods Thursday night, she did exactly that or, as Bouchard put it, "got a lot of balls back."

It was the type of match that Bouchard was regularly winning just a few months ago. But at the moment, with a lack of match play and a few surprising defeats to digest over the summer, it was more of a challenge. That she came through it will do more for her momentum in this tournament than any routine 6-2, 6-2 victory could.

It was, by far, the best and most competitive match on the big stadium all day – and night. And from courtside, the quality of hitting and the pace at which the ball was struck, despite the challenges of the wind – with neither player having the last name Williams – was breathtaking at times.

There were moments of doubt for the Canadian, to be sure, moments when the Bouchard from the first half of 2014 would have created an opportunity, moved forward and put away a swing volley. Thursday, there were many moments where that opportunity was created – but Bouchard hesitated. Sometimes, she backtracked. And often, she paid the price when Cirstea herself took advantage instead.