Shapovalov, Bouchard advance at Wimbledon
LONDON Eugenie Bouchard and Denis Shapovalov are off to the second round at Wimbledon.
The Canadians won their firstround matches Tuesday and will join fellow Canuck Milos Raonic in the second round.
Bouchard beat British wild card Gabriella Taylor 6-0, 4-6, 6-3, while Shapovalov, the No. 26 seed in the men’s draw, knocked off Jeremy Chardy of France 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.
A finalist at Wimbledon in 2014, Bouchard is now ranked 188th after winning three qualifying matches last week.
“I feel a lot more comfortable on the court,” Bouchard said. “I feel a little bit more like myself. You know, I have always deep down had the belief, and it’s about, in the tough moments of the match, keeping that belief. I have that more and more now. Just trying to keep progressing.”
Shapovalov beat one of the hottest players on the ATP Tour in the 46th-ranked Chardy. In his last three tournaments, Chardy won one title, reached a final and advanced to the semifinals.
Bouchard will face No. 17 seed Ashleigh Barty in the second round. Barty beat Bouchard in their only previous match, winning a three-setter on a hard-court in Miami last year.
Shapovalov will face unseeded Benoit Paire of France. Shapovalov won their lone previous match, on clay this year in Madrid.
Meanwhile, Vasek Pospisil of Vancouver lost 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan on Tuesday.
Raonic, the No. 13 seed, will play unseeded Australian John Millman in the second round Wednesday.
Also Wednesday, Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa and Yifan Xu of China open their tournament against Alison Riske and Olga Savchuk in women’s doubles.