BREAK P O INTS
Bouchard gets an early — and successful — start ... Players feeling the heat, but Venus prepared ... Canadian Marino misses main draw, but picks up some points
MONTREAL — Montrealer Eugenie Bouchard is scheduled to play Elise
Mertens of the Netherlands in a first-round singles match at the Roger Cup on Tuesday afternoon, but she had a taste of the courts Monday when she joined American Sloane Stephens on the National Bank grandstand for a doubles match.
They faced the fifth-seeded team of Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa and Yifan Xu of China and emerged with a 6-4, 4-6, 10-6 win.
Bouchard and Stephens enjoyed success last season when they reached the final at Washington but the pairing had struggled this year with first-round losses at the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Miami. Both players were coached by Nick Saviano earlier in their careers and they make their off-season homes in south Florida.
Bouchard said any win gives a player confidence but she said the doubles were unlikely to have an impact on her singles match. She said the doubles match took the place of a practice session.
“Tomorrow’s another day; I’m just going to have to fight and see what happens,” said Bouchard.
THE HEAT IS ON
Venus Williams lives in Florida and is accustomed to playing tennis in hot weather but she said that the conditions Monday caught her attention.
“It was pretty hot out there and as players, you have to prepare for it, hydrate, eat,” Williams said after she beat fellow American Caroline
Dolehide 7-5, 6-0 in a firstround match in IGA Stadium. “It’s even warmer in Florida but I’m on the court at 7 a.m. and I try to be off by 9.”
The temperatures were well about 30 C at court level and the conditions were made worse by the high humidity which broke shortly after 7 p.m. when a torrential thunderstorm halted the evening session.
The heat took its toll on several spectators who needed medical attention and Williams was two points away from wrapping up her match when one of the line judges was overcome by heat. That resulted in a short delay while she was helped off the court to receive treatment.
Williams said she had a slow start because she had trouble with Dolehide’s serve.
“I think she had a really great second serve,” said Williams. “I think I got a better feel for it in the second set. In the first set, I was still figuring it out. I hadn’t really seen her play. I think maybe she had more of an advantage because she’s probably seen me play more than I’ve played her. It was pretty close in the first set.”
At 38, with a No.1 ranking and seven Grand Slam titles on her resumé, Williams said she strives to get better.
When asked about her goals, she smiled and replied: “I just want to rule the world, that’s all. Small goals.”
RAIN HALTS PLAY
Maria Sharapova was leading Bulgarian Sesil
Karatantcheva 4-1 in their featured match of the evening session when a torrential thunderstorm halted play at 7 p.m.
The rain stopped at 8:30 p.m. and the players returned to considerably cooler conditions shortly after 9 p.m.
They were just completing their warmup when a drizzle sent them back to the players’ lounge.
MARINO MAKES HER MOVE
Canadian Rebecca Marino failed to qualify for the main draw but she did pick up 20 points for reaching the final round of the qualifying event and that will move her from No. 307 to No. 285 when the new rankings are released next Monday.
The 27-year-old Marino, who ended a five-year hiatus from tennis in January, is on track to reach her goal of being able to enter the qualifying for the Grand Slam events. That will require a ranking in the 240 range.
Marino is too late for the U.S. Open later this month but should be good to go for the Australian Open in January.
Her next chance to add some points is next week in a $100,000 ITF women’s Challenger in her hometown of Vancouver.
Marino, who quit tennis in 2013 because of problems with depression and cyber-bullying, participated in a seminar on bullying Monday morning.
The session was sponsored by FearlesslyGIRL, an anti-bullying organization. American tennis player Madison Keys is heavily involved in the group and was supposed to be here but she withdrew from the event last week because of a wrist injury.
Marino will be back on the court for a doubles match Tuesday. She is paired with
Carson Branstine, a 17-yearold dual Canadian-U.S. citizen from Irvine, Calif.
She took advantage of her mother’s Canadian roots to represent Canada and she currently trains at the National Training Centre in Montreal.
It was pretty hot out there and as players, you have to prepare for it, hydrate, eat. Venus Williams