Bouchard wins ugly to make Open fourth round

MELBOURNE: Seventh seed Eugenie Bouchard outmuscled Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia to make the fourth round of the Australian Open on Friday, advancing in straight sets despite admitting her performance was below par.

Bouchard, a semi-finalist at Melbourne Park last year, had her service game put under pressure in a 56-minute first set before she ran away with the match 7-5, 6-0.

"I don´t think it was the prettiest tennis out there today," she said. "I didn´t get much rhythm, she was hitting some pretty good balls and I´m just happy I got through it. I wasn´t playing my best."

The 20-year-old will face either Romania´s Irina-Camelia Begu or Carina Witthoeft of Germany in the fourth round, with a potential quarter-final against second seed Maria Sharapova looming.

The rising star will need to improve on Friday´s showing if she is to stand a chance against the Russian and go on to achieve her stated aim of winning a maiden Grand Slam in the near future.

She followed up last year´s Melbourne semi with appearances in the final four at Roland Garros and the decider at Wimbledon but still lacks a killer serve, instead relying on her groundstrokes.

Garcia has a similar game and there were breaks galore in the first set as both players managed to hold serve just once in the first eight games.

The French world number 36, who beat Bouchard in their only previous meeting, held off eight break points in one game, but it was Bouchard who toughed it out.

Renowned for her intense on-court demeanour, she maintained the pressure as Garcia´s resistance cracked and her error count mounted, finally snatching a decisive fourth break to take it 7-5.

From there, Bouchard romped home to take the second set 6-0. (AFP)