More woe for Bouchard after firstround exit

Bouchard’s poor run of form continued Wednesday as the Canadian suffered a first-round exit at the hands of Australia’s Ashleigh Barty at the Miami Open. Wildcard Barty’s 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 win sets up an all-Australian clash in the second round against 14th seed Samantha Stosur.

But for the 23-year-old Bouchard, a former world number five who has slumped to 56th in the rankings, it was another blow after her first-round exit in Indian Wells. “It has been a bit of a struggle,” said a stone-faced Bouchard, who was unable to account for her loss of form.

Bouchard was a beaten finalist at Wimbledon in 2014 but, apart from a run to the semi-final at Sydney where she was beaten by Britain’s Johanna Konta, she has been unable to make an impact this year.

Barty reproduced the gutsy tennis that helped her secure her maiden WTA title at the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur last month. Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic was another high-profile early exit, the 2008 Miami finalist falling 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) to Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova.