Bouchard bounced in singles first round
TORONTO — Donna Vekic of Croatia downed Canadian Eugenie Bouchard, 6-3, 6-4, in firstround play at the Rogers Cup tennis tournament Tuesday.
The 21-year-old Vekic, ranked 51st in the world, will face thirdseed Angelique Kerber in the second round.
Playing in her main draw debut at the Rogers Cup, Vekic broke the 70th-ranked Bouchard six times and won 17-of-27 first-serve points at Aviva Centre.
Bouchard started the match on the wrong foot, getting broken in the first game after a lengthy backand-forth. Vekic held serve then broke Bouchard for a 3-0 lead.
Bouchard was 2 for 3 on break points during the first set, but Vekic broke the Canadian four times, including the deciding game — a 10-minute long affair that saw the opponents hit deuce six times.
Bouchard fired two aces, but double faulted five times to Vekic’s three in the first set. She had 19 unforced errors to Vekic’s 10.
The second set started better for Bouchard, who broke Vekic for a 2-1 lead, but she lost her next serve and responded by bouncing her racket off the ground in frustration. Each held serve over the next five games before Bouchard hit the net down 40-30 to give Vekic the match at 6-4.
Bouchard, from Westmount, Que., remains Canada’s top women’s singles player, despite dwindling down from a career-high No. 5 ranking in 2014 to her current No. 70.
The 23-year-old Bouchard, who made a name for herself when she reached the Wimbledon final in 2014 after two straight Grand Slam semifinal appearances, has failed to make it past the second round in six straight tournaments. She was a wild-card entry this week.
Vekic won her spot in the main draw via a two-round qualifying tournament over the weekend. Bouchard won their only previous match against each other, a threeset victory in Shenzen last year.
Bouchard’s best showing at a Rogers Cup came last year in Montreal, where she lost in the third round.
Bouchard played her firstround doubles match with World No. 1 Karolina Pliskova later Tuesday against Dominika Cibulkova and Kirsten Flipkens.