PARIS – Eugenie Bouchard grew up admiring Maria Sharapova. Philadelphia Flyers Outlet Store . "First, I noticed her cute dresses and things like that when I was young," said the 20-year-old Canadian, who met Sharapova when she was just eight-years-old at a tournament in Miami. "As a child, I looked up to her and I remember watching her in the finals of Wimbledon and thought what she was doing was so cool and I wanted to do the same thing." Bouchard and Sharapova will play on Thursday in the French Open semi-finals. It is the second straight year that the two have met at Roland Garros with the Russian prevailing in straight sets in the second round a year ago. "For sure I respect her," said Bouchard. "But now were in the semis of a Grand Slam, so Im going to respect her but not put her too high on a pedestal and really just battle. Thats what its going to be." Sharapova may be seeded seventh, but she has been widely considered the favourite to win the title since the top three seeds – Serena Williams, Li Na and Agnieszka Radwanska – all lost in the first three rounds. And Sharapova is favoured to beat Bouchard (-325, 4/13 per BoDog) for the same reason she is expected to hoist the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen on Saturday: she has the experience. She made the finals here a year ago. She won the whole thing just two years ago. At the age of 27, she has already won the career slam and has an Olympic silver medal on her resume. "Achieving what she has, she is of course very strong mentally," said Bouchard. "It is one of her strengths. Im going to be ready for another battle. You know, the semis of a Grand Slam, thats what you have to expect. "Im just looking forward to the challenge." Bouchard is earning her own reputation for poise under pressure. She overcame a 2-5 deficit (two breaks) and a set point to win the opening frame against clay-court specialist Carla Suarez Navarro in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. Then, after dropping the second set 2-6, Bouchard dug out of a 1-4 hole in the deciding set by winning 12 straight points. She then served to stay in the match at 4-5, holding easily. "At the end of the day, whether I win or lose, I want to at least leave it all out there and try and at least battle. Im proud of the way I did that in both the first and third. Shes a great player and a really good clay courter, as well. I knew it was a tough battle, and thats exactly what it was today. Im just proud of the way I stayed in there." Bouchard appeared to show some nerves after wasting a match point, serving at 6-5, with a double fault. She was asked if that was a sign she is, after all, human. "I show Im human all the time," Bouchard noted with a smile. "Yeah, you know, its one of those things. I didnt really worry about it. I think thats the most important thing: I didnt see it as a big deal, and I just regrouped for the next point, which allowed me to just give me a chance to get in a position to have a match point again. "Even on the second match point I missed a ball, but I was trying to go for it, so I didnt worry too much, either. "I think that was a bit the theme the whole match: even if I was down 5-2 or 4-1 in the third, not to worry too much, keep going, keep going, keep going, and it paid off in the end." Bouchards mental toughness and aggressive play have earned her comparisons to Sharapova. Does she like that? "There are positives and negatives," Bouchard said. "Of course shes a great champion, so to be seen as the next of someone who has won four slams and has been No. 1 in the world, its a compliment. "But at the same time, of course, Im my own person and I just want to be myself on the court, and you know, try and achieve what I want to achieve and just be seen as that." Bouchard is the only womens player to make the semis at both slams this season. She is part of the future of womens tennis and looking to prove the future is now. Bouchard readily admits that back in January when she made that magical run to the Australian Open semis, she suffered from a bit of stage fright at the start of a straight-sets loss to Li Na. "I was maybe a little bit frozen at the beginning of that match," she said. "Ill be much more ready this time." Authentic Ivan Provorov Jersey . His head snapped back from the impact and hit the floor. The All-Star power forward was all right afterward, a relief for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Authentic Jori Lehtera Jersey . Kelli Stack and Alex Carpenter also scored for the Americans, who avoided a repeat of Finlands upset at the Four Nations Cup in Lake Placid, N.Y., in November. Finnish goalie Noora Raty made 58 saves in that one, but the three-time Olympian could stop just 40 of 43 U. http://www.cheapflyersjerseysauthentic.com/ .Y. -- Phil Jackson lost out on his preferred coach, but hes working hard on keeping his star player.Joel Embiid scored a career-high 18 points and keyed a pair of big second-half runs that propelled No. 13 Kansas to an 80-63 victory over New Mexico at the Sprint Center. The Jayhawks (7-3) were coming off back-to-back road losses to Colorado and Florida, but got back on track behind big efforts from Embiid and Perry Ellis, who had a game-high 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting and added nine rebounds. Embiid tallied 16 of his points after halftime. Cameron Bairstow and Kendall Williams each finished with 24 points for the Lobos (7-2), who shot just 27.3 percent (6-for-22) in the second half en route to having a four-game win streak halted. Kansas owned a slim 41-40 edge early in the second half until Ellis and Embiid led a 14-2 run to create some distance. The two dropped in seven points apiece during the surge, with Ellis layup off a Wayne Selden feed putting the Jayhawks up 55-42 with under 13 1/2 minutes left. New Mexico netted six straight points later on to cut the deficit to 60-54 midway through the final frame, and Williams was fouled by Andrew Wiggins while burying a deep triple shortly afterward. He promptly sank the bonus attempt to pull the Lobos within 63-58 with 8:03 remaining. That was as close as New Mexico would get, as Kansas responded by embarking on a 12-1 tear to put the conntest out of reach. Authentic Mark Howe Jersey. Embiid again had a big hand in the momentum-changing sequence, putting up seven more points as the Jayhawks built a comfortable 75-59 advantage with under three minutes to play. Behind 16 points from Bairstow and 12 from Williams, the Lobos were able to hang right with the Jayhawks all throughout a tightly-contested opening half that contained six lead changes and saw neither team ahead by more than six points. Wiggins tipped in teammate Naadir Tharpes miss with 1:16 to go in the period to snap a 34-34 tie, then later hit two free throws to put Kansas ahead by a 39-36 score in the closing seconds. New Mexico trailed by just one at intermission, though, after Arthur Edwards second-chance bucket just prior to the buzzer. Game Notes Wiggins recorded 11 points but went only 3-of-11 from the field ... Embiids previous career high was 16 points, which the freshman center posted against Iona on Nov. 19 ... The teams were meeting for the first time since a 59-40 KU win in Lawrence on Dec. 3, 1964 ... New Mexico finished 25-of-29 from the foul line but made good on just 2-of-14 attempts from 3-point range ... 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