Eugenie Bouchard was defeated in the semifinals on Saturday afternoon at the Bell Challenge, a WTA International Series event currently underway at PEPS on the campus of Laval University in Quebec City.

After winning the opening set, the 19-year-old Canadian saw her hopes of reaching her first WTA final dashed by an in-form Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic, ranked no. 41 in the world. Safarova, winner of four WTA titles in her career, raised her game to another level in the second set to post a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory and reach her second final at the Bell Challenge. She will face Marina Erakovic of New Zealand, another two-time finalist of the event, for the title on Sunday. Erakovic picked up a straight sets 6-4, 6-3 win against American starlet Christina McHale.

On Friday, Bouchard became the first Canadian to reach the Bell Challenge semifinals and two WTA semifinals in the same year since Aleksandra Wozniak in 2009. She will crack the Top 50 for the first time in her career when the new rankings are released on Monday.

Former junior rivals and UCLA teammates Dennis Novikov and Marcos Giron will meet for the 18th USTA Claremont Club Classic title on Sunday after both won hard-fought three-set matches over former Bruins on Saturday at the Claremont Club.

The No. 3-seeded Novikov, 19, had to come back from down a set and a break to beat No. 2-seeded Nick Meister, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, while the unseeded 20-year-old Giron survived a match point against him in his 7-5, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6) over Haythem Abid of Tunisia in the $10,000 Men’s Pro Future event.

Eugenie Bouchard advanced to her second WTA semifinal of the season and second of her career on Friday night at the Bell Challenge presented by National Bank, a WTA International Series event currently underway at PEPS on the campus of Laval University in Quebec City.

The 19-year-old Canadian put forth a poised and dominant performance to defeat world no. 40 Kristina Mladenovic of France 6-3, 6-2 to reach the final four where she will face Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic on Saturday. This will be the first meeting between the two players.

There are times on the court when it’s only natural for Haythem Abid to think back and recall one of his finest tennis moments, even though it ended in such a tough defeat.

On Friday, the former UCLA No. 1 player advanced to the semifinals at the USTA Claremont Club Classic, a $10,000 Men’s Pro Futures event taking place at the Claremont Club, for the second straight year with a convincing 6-2, 6-1 win over No. 4-seeded Sho Katayama of Japan.

Back in April playing in a relegation World Group II Davis Cup match at his home club on clay in Tunis, Tunisia, Abid found himself in the deciding match against Belarus’ Egor Gerasimov. Losing the match would mean moving down to Europe/Africa Group III play in 2014.

Eugenie Bouchard advanced to her third WTA quarter-final of the season on Thursday night at the Bell Challenge presented by National Bank, a WTA International Series event in Quebec City.

In front of a record home crowd of more than 2,000 spectators at PEPS on the campus of Laval University , the 19-year-old Canadian defeated qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva of Kazakhstan 7-6(2), 6-4 to book her in spot in the final eight where she will meet second-seeded Kristina Mladenovic of France on Friday night.

Building on the experience of winning the recent US Open National Playoff and playing in the US Open Qualifying tournament, former Texas A&M All-American Jeff Dadamo rolled into the quarterfinals of the USTA Claremont Club Classic, a $10,000 Men’s Pro Futures event taking place at the Claremont Club.

The lefthanded 24-year-old from Florida and No. 6-seeded Dadamo advanced to the quarterfinals on Friday with a routine 6-2, 6-2 win over Australia’s Leon Frost. Dadamo will next face No. 2-seeded former UCLA player Nick Meister on Friday.