Canadian glam-girl Genie Bouchard has made it to the second round of Wimbledon 2016 and a big test awaits her in the form of Britain's Johanna Konta on Thursday in centre court. Konta, 25, beat Puerto Rico's Monica Puig in straight sets to progress to the second round of the competition.
Konta, who made her Wimbledon debut in 2012, never progressed past the first round in any of the previous years. However, this time around, after breaking her first round jinx, the home favourite is expected to put her best foot forward to make the best use of her fifth Wimbledon campaign.
Bouchard, 22, meanwhile, is not an easy challenge for Konta by any means. The Wimbledon 2014 finalist beat Magdalena Rybarikova 6-3, 6-4 in the first round match, which took place over the course of two days, thanks to the rain delay.
The duo have never faced each other previously and this clash throws up a major challenge for both the women tennis stars. For the record, Konta is ranked 19 at the moment by the WTA, as compared to Bouchard's 48th world ranking.
"I think it's definitely challenging not to get too anxious to finish any match," the Guardian quoted Konta as saying. "But I think so far this grass season I've been quite well prepared for conditions like these. I really put it out of my mind. I was very happy [with my performance against Puig].
"I'm very happy with how I'm able to serve and return. It's important to get the first strike in on this surface. That's where most points are won. It's about staying offensive and trying to dictate out there," the Australian Open 2016 semi-finalist added.
Not wary of facing Konta, Bouchard is relishing their first encounter. "I know she's been playing really well this year. It's always exciting to have a new matchup and play against someone you've never played before," the Canadian told Daily Mail. "I know she'll [Konta will] have all the home crowd, so I'm ready to challenge that. But I just want to play some good tennis and enjoy another match at Wimbledon."
Where to watch live
Wimbledon 2016: Eugenie Bouchard vs Johanna Konta will be played at the Centre Court from around 7 p.m. BST (11:30 p.m. IST, 2 p.m. ET) on July 30. How to watch:
India: TV: Star Sports 1/HD 1, Star Sports 4/HD 4. Live Streaming: Starsports.com and Hotstar.
UK: TV: BBC One, BBC Two. Live Streaming: BBC iPlayer.
USA: TV: ESPN 3. Live streaming: Watch ESPN.
Australia: TV: Fox Sports. Live Streaming: Foxtel.
Serbia: TV: B92 (RTS).
France and Middle East: TV: Bein Sports. Live Streaming: Bein Sports Connect.
China: TV: Beijing TV, LeTV Sports, Jiangsu TV.
Pan-Asia: TV: Fox Sports Asia. Live Streaming: Fox Sports Play Asia.
Canada: TV: CTV and TSN. Live Streaming: TSN TV.
Europe: TV: EuroSport. Live Streaming: EuroSport Player.
Live score: Wimbledon website.
