Bouchard bows out in 2nd round
NEW YORK — Eugenie Bouchard was blunt when assessing her inconsistent performance in her second-round loss at the U.S. Open on Thursday.
After rolling through three qualifying matches and posting an easy win in the first round, the native of Westmount, Que., lost 6-4, 6-3 to Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic in the second round.
While Bouchard has earned some praise for a recent improvement in her results after tumbling down the rankings in previous years, the world’s 137th-ranked player struggled against the 103rd-ranked Vondrousova.
“Yeah, on the court, I really didn’t feel like myself,” Bouchard said. “That’s very disappointing, considering how good I felt in my last couple matches. Yeah, I mean, I played like (expletive) . . . .
“Although I’m very disappointed with today,” she added, “I think I’ll have to take a lot of positives from the past couple weeks.”
Vondrousova broke Bouchard six times in the match, including the final game. Bouchard, who was once ranked No. 5 in the world, won just 59 per cent of her points on first serve.
Bouchard made 32 unforced errors, while Vondrousova made 25 and also gave up three breaks to the Canadian.
“Lefties are always tough,” Bouchard said of her opponent. “It’s a different spin. You don’t see it often. She got a lot of balls back, made me feel that pressure kind of. But there were like 10 things I could have done better, so . . . it’s more about me.”
The 24-year-old Bouchard was the only Canadian in the women’s singles draw.
Vasek Pospisil, who was raised in Vernon but now resides in Vancouver, and partner Fernando Verdasco of Spain withdrew from a men’s doubles match later Thursday, while Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa was scheduled to play in mixed doubles.
Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., and Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., the two remaining Canadians in men’s singles, play third-round matches today.
Williams sisters facing each other again today, 30th time in 20 years
NEW YORK — Back when Serena Williams, then 16, and Venus Williams, then 17, played each other on tour for the very first time, at the Australian Open in January 1998, no one possibly could have known it would start a series that would last for two decades. Actually, Serena did sort of predict it. “What you guys saw today,” she said after losing to Venus way back then, “is definitely something in the future to watch for.”
Well, here we are: Williams vs. Williams, Part 30.
When the two sisters meet in the third round of the U.S. Open tonight at Arthur Ashe Stadium, it will be their earliest Grand Slam matchup since that initial one 20 years ago.
Serena leads their head-to-head series 17-12, and also leads 10-5 at the Grand Slam tournaments.
“I know when I play her, I have to play some of my best tennis. She does, too. It propels us to continue to play like that for the tournament. It sets a tone for us,” said Serena. “I feel like throughout our career, we have pushed each other to be the best that we can be.”