Home support proved no help as Eugenie Bouchard’s struggles on the women’s tennis Tour continued on Tuesday with a straight-sets loss to qualifier Donna Vekic at the Women’s Tennis Association Premier 5 tournament in Toronto.
Croatia’s Vekic powered to a 6-3, 6-4 victory to the disappointment of a partisan crowd whose vocal support couldn’t lift Bouchard.
The Canadian, who has just one match win since a second-round exit at the French Open, committed 32 unforced errors and seven double faults.
She was broken six times by the 21-year-old Vekic, who is in the main draw of this US Open tune-up for the first time.
“I guess I am going to have to have a tournament in Croatia to finally have the home crowd,” said Vekic, who booked a second-round clash with German third seed Angelique Kerber – who held the world No 1 ranking earlier this year.
Bouchard, touted as a rising star when she reached the 2014 Wimbledon final on the heels of semi-final appearances at the Australian and French Opens, was once ranked as high as fifth in the world.
She’s now 70th and received a wildcard entry into the main draw, but her Toronto campaign lasted just 94 minutes.
“I’m obviously a bit low in confidence right now,” Bouchard said. “So it’s tough to get through tough matches when you’re in a moment like that.”
In the second-round action, former world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, seeded sixth, powered through with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine also advanced with a 7-6(4), 6-4 win over Russian Daria Kasatkina.
In other first-round matches, 10th-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland continued her dominance of big-serving American CoCo Vandeweghe with a 6-3, 6-2 win.
Radwanska, winner of the Canadian crown in 2014 when the tournament was held in Montreal, has won five straight hardcourt meetings against Vandeweghe – who managed to turn the tables in a grass court clash at Birmingham last year.
It was a disappointing early exit for Vandeweghe, who reached the final at Stanford last week to move into the top-20 in the world rankings.
Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova swept past France’s Alize Cornet 6-0, 6-1 to book a second-round meeting with newly minted world number one and top seed Karolina Pliskova.
Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia downed Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 7-5, 6-0 to line up a meeting with second-seeded defending champion Simona Halep, who won the Canadian title in Montreal last year.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!