Donna Vekic of Croatia downed Canadian Eugenie Bouchard 6-3, 6-4 in first-round play at the Rogers Cup women’s event in Toronto on Tuesday.
The 21-year-old Vekic, ranked 51st in the world, will face third-seed 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 back-and-forth. Vekic held serve then broke Bouchard again 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.
Broke racquet in frustration
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 racquet 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 three-set victory in Shenzen last year.
Bouchard’s best showing at a Rogers Cup came last year in Montreal, where she lost to Slovakia’s Kristina Kucova in the third round.
She was scheduled to play her first-round doubles match with World No. 1 Karolina Pliskova later Tuesday against Dominika Cibulkova and Kirsten Flipkens.
Earlier Tuesday, 18-year-old American Catherine Bellis rallied from down a set to defeat Julia Goerges of Germany 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, and move on to face eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round.
In other first-round play Tuesday, Oceane Dodin of France had to retire in the first set, giving Australia’s Ashleigh Barty a 5-0 victory. And Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova downed Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia 7-5, 6-0.
Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., made her Rogers Cup debut in Tuesday’s night draw against Hungary’s Timea Babos. She’s the last remaining Canadian in the women’s draw after Montreal’s Francoise Abanda was dropped in straight sets by Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic on Monday night.
Hyeon Chung stretches to make a return in his upset win over Feliciano Lopez Tuesday at the Rogers Cup men’s event in Montreal. (Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MEN: Chung scores upset over Lopez
South Korea’s Hyeon Chung upset Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(3) on Tuesday in first-round action at the Rogers Cup men’s event in Montreal.
Chung, ranked No. 56 in the world, took advantage of several mistakes made by the 28th-ranked Lopez, including eight double faults, to win the two hour 16 minute match.
Lopez is now 10-12 in his career at the Rogers Cup.
The opening match on centre court at Uniprix Stadium was supposed to feature 10th-ranked Tomas Berdych but he pulled out with a rib injury. Berdych’s withdrawal ended a streak of 12 consecutive appearances in Canada for the Czech player.
“I am sorry I have to apologize (to) all my Montreal fans,” tweeted Berdych. “I couldn’t play, because of my rib disfunction I need to get well to go to office soon!!”
No. 85 Ernesto Escobedo took his spot and upset 63rd-ranked Nikoloz Basilashvili in straight sets 7-6(4), 6-4.
Borna Coric easily defeated Mikhail Youzhny 6-2, 6-4 to set up a meeting with Rafael Nadal in the second round.
Italy’s Paolo Lorenzo downed American Frances Tiafoe 7-6(3), 0-6, 6-2.
Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., ranked No. 143, plays 64th-ranked Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil later in the afternoon. Shapovalov, who was granted a wild card spot in the tournament, is the only Canadian in singles action on Tuesday.
Milos Raonic from Thornhill, Ont., was initially scheduled to play his opening match on Tuesday but a minor injury forced him to postpone it to Wednesday. He faces France’s Adrian Mannarino.
