Event: 2016 Citi Open
Venue: William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center
Location: Rock Creek Park, Washington, D.C., USA

BEFORE: Camila Giorgi wants to finally break through into the WTA elite but her ultra aggressive style has lacked the consistency required to make the leap onto the next level. With former US Open champion Flavia Pennetta now officially retired, the Italian tennis' hopes hinge on veterans Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani but Giorgi remains poised to take over as the nation's leader in the order of merit; she just has to deliver the results though!

Meanwhile Eugenie Bouchard enjoyed her elite staus back in 2013 & 2014 which peaked with the Wimbledon final appearance but the lanky Canadian has suffered a massive drop down the rakings over the past 18 months which questioned her mental approach and actual playing skills in first place. It's naive to think that Bouchard lucked into a Top 10 status but she's been accused of being a "confidence" player and right now she simply struggles to intimidate her opponents and often crumbles under pressure when she's expected to win. There were signs of improvement over at Wimbledon earlier this month but Washington is one place where she'd be a betting favorite to take home the trophy a couple of years ago yet right now some pundits pick Giorgi to blow her off court in style regardless.

Camila Giorgi wears a silver bikini top, matching knickers and red gloves. Blonde hair tied in a high ponytail. Eugenie Bouchard wears a turquoise bikini top, white knickers and black gloves. Blonde hair tied in a braid. The fight is scheduled for ten rounds in the welterweight division.

Round 1:
Giorgi is all power and she tries to catch the fellow blonde with immediate jabbing galore but Bouchard has that tactics covered and fends off the Italian storm in mid distance. She loops single hand response just to keep the older girl wary of her skills but Camila just doesn't care much about her defense at this early stage of the fight and keeps coming forward. She lacks the precision required to put Genie under enough pressure though and settles into a measured attack over the top down the stretch but the Canadian guard easily withstands the hectic challenge and allows Bouchard to stand tall while exploring the single-handed counterpunching until the bell.

Round 2:
Another Italian charge bounces off the high guard and Genie just refuses to blow her gasket at this stage as she wraps the older blonde into a lenghty clinching struggle afterwards. Giorgi spikes her foe on the ribs in order to shove her back but gets slammed on the temple instead and drops back towards the ropes with Bouchard flexing her muscles and shutting down the potential response. Camila can't stretch her elbows in this phone booth-like stance and allows Genie to drag her against the turnbuckle where the Canadian romps her to the gut and smacks across the lips in a frantic effort to get on the scorecards. Giorgi's defense is always a reason for concern and she emerges from the skirmish in the corner with a visible lump under her left eye as Genie turned up the heat late, somewhat against the odds.

Round 3:
Bouchard operates on supreme confidence and she's gained enough of it during the second round to warrant a proper leather bash in mid range which spins the Italian's ponytail back & forth until Giorgi simply has to take cover and yield real estate in the proccess. Genie wants to track her down afterwards but lands too many single punches to make it happen however keeping Camila's aggression at bay is enough for the Washington audience to support her actions. Giorgi tries a little fake move downstairs to perhaps throw the Canadian off guard but gets blasted on the jaw with a late hook instead and slumps on the ropes with Genie ripping more strikes to the midriff before the ref has to pull her back at the bell.

Round 4:
Suddenly it's all Bouchard here in D.C. as she whoops Giorgi from point-blank range across the nose and bends her into aching spasms. She keeps the pressure by wading in on the body and it's clear the Italian didn't expect that as she slumps into a clinching survival. But there's no stopping Genie's confident approach anymore and she rips more brutal hooks against the liver area to make the fellow blonde shriek in pain and just accept her fate at this stage. Genie pounds the aching foe back to the ropes as she shows supreme strenght again and nails her on the jaw to set up a quick switch on the guts Giorgi is never able to embrace. Another uppercut on the jaw shatters the Italian guard and Bouchard completes the demolition rally by bursting Camila's lips into a swollen mess WHILE SENDING HER DOWN ON HER SIDE in the proccess!! What a monster drive that was from the blonde Canuck! Giorgi remains down on all fours while soaking up the count but eventually is back on her feet at eight however Bouchard is all over her after the command and rips more vicious punches to the body to dump Camila under all sorts of bother... the Canadian rout only stops when the clock expires and allows the busted up Giorgi to finally catch a much-needed respite.

Round 5:
Eugenie goes for the kill but Camila's escape mode allows her to bide some time in mid distance while soaking up only singles punches on the fly. One thinks any proper combo would have send the Italian down and out for keeps but Bouchard's footwork is a little exposed here and she just can't enforce her evil plans against someone who looks only to survive the next couple of minutes. The Washington crowd is fully behind the taller blonde here but Bouchard wisely backs off from the fruitless pursuit since she's miles ahead on the points now and doesn't need to risk a sudden clubbing counter-attack that would have derailed her lead within a blink of an eye. Giorgi's defense is mediocre at best however she still has that devastating punch in her which keeps her alive in this contest even if only by the skin of her teeth.

Round 6:
Giorgi's suffered too much damage in the previous few minutes to warrant another aggressive blast from the gate but she keeps losing the mid distance tangles as well as Bouchard slowly but surely picks her off again and shuts her down behind a high earmuff in the center of the ring before a quick switch on the guts wobbles the older blonde into another aching struggle. Camila tries to home in a classic haymaker now but skims off the Canadian's forearms and eats another hooking drive on the temples that dumps her on the ropes where Genie bursts into her breadbasket with raw power and tries to chop her down in half for good. Giorgi bravely hangs on but just can't find any solution to break Bouchard's power assault and slumps against her shoulders with the taller blonde screaming out in delight while pounding the ribcage into a bruised mess. Once again the clock expires before the Italian can concede the fight but the Washington crowd is well aware Giorgi is on her last legs here and just getting mauled into exhaustion.

Round 7:
Camila is running on empty here and doesn't have the speed to avoid a hooking blast from the left side that shatters her high guard and finds the temple. Genie pours in with more facial approach moments later and traps the older blonde in a leather frenzy that adds more cuts to Giorgi's face and slumps her against the turnbuckle down the stretch as she can only backpedal to the corner under the brutal Canadian pressure. Nothing comes back from the roughed up Italian anymore and when Genie shuts her eyes with a double uppercut combo, the gloves simply fall by the wayside and signal the end of Camila's challenge. Thankfully the ref notices it right away and pulls Bouchard off to safety before she hands the Italian a very brutal knockout. TKO7 Eugenie Bouchard!!!

AFTER: That was one of the best performances from the blonde Canuck this year and she looks genuinely happy about it! She showed her evil nature against a classic swarmer who never kicked into a higher gear and was woefully exposed on the defensive side. When someone's able to pound Giorgi around the ring like that, it's no longer a matter of who wins the fight but when however the 24 year old Italian remains a heavy threat if allowed to dominate the pace and range instead. Genie made sure she stayed on top of her though and executed her own plans to perfection which secured her a solid Beatdown Of The Year candidate and just perhaps she's on her way up the rankings again. The WTA pin-up girl status is wide open right now with Maria Sharapova absent from the tennis courts and Eugenie was always destined to become heiress apparent to the Russian-occupied throne once Caroline Wozniacki suffered from her own lack of results over the past couple of years. Watch this space!

Final result: Eugenie Bouchard def. Camila Giorgi TKO7.