Lauren Davis of the United States returns to Eugenie Bouchard of Canada in Charleston on Wednesday.
AFP/Charleston, South Carolina
Canadian Eugenie Bouchard slumped to yet another early exit on Wednesday, beaten in her first match in the WTA Charleston tournament by American Lauren Davis.
Davis, ranked 66th in the world, needed just 67 minutes to subdue the world number seven 6-3, 6-1 and reach the third round. Bouchard is the top seed in the $731,000 tournament on green clay, accepting a late wild card invitation in hopes of honing her game after falling in her first match at Miami.
Instead she endured yet a third opening-match defeat of the season, after also dropping her first match in Antwerp. She also pulled out of Dubai and Monterrey tournaments with a right forearm injury.
“I obviously hate losing, but I’m not going to be too hard on myself,” Bouchard said. “I know I’ve not been feeling like myself on the court, so it’s just a matter of taking some time now, not playing a tournament, and just taking some time to train and get back to feeling like myself on the court.
“I definitely felt a little bit slow today, overpowered, which is never usually the case. Usually I’m the one who’s dominating. So it was definitely just not good—whatever happened was just not good.”
Bouchard’s status for Canada’s upcoming FedCup World Group playoff tie with Romania was unclear after Tennis Canada on Wednesday named just three players, Francoise Abanda, Sharon Fichman and Gabriela Dabrowski to the squad. Bouchard could still be added, but even though she would bring some star power to the tie it doesn’t seem Bouchard would bring the form that saw her reach at least the semi-finals of the first three Grand Slams of 2014 -- becoming Canada’s first Grand Slam singles finalist at Wimbledon with her runner-up finish to Petra Kvitova.
The tournament also lost second-seeded Russian Ekaterina Makarova on Wednesday. Makarova held on for a gritty 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 win over China’s Zhang Shuai. Hours later, however, she pulled out of the tournament complaining of a gastro-intestinal illness. It was a disappointing end to her first tournament since rising from ninth to eighth in the world rankings on Monday.
Bouchard and Makarova were the only top-10 players in the draw. Davis, 21, had lost her only prior meeting with Bouchard, but was quick to take control. S
he won the last 11 games of the contest, breaking Bouchard twice in the final set for the victory.
The American used 18 winners with just five unforced errors to secure the second victory of her career over a top 10 player. “I knew to beat her I’d have to be fearless,” Davis said. “I saw this as a great opportunity.”
Lopez launches Houston ATP title defence
Spain’s Feliciano Lopez got his ATP title defence in Houston off to a smooth start on Wednesday with a 6-3, 6-3 win over American Sam Groth. Lopez, ranked a career-high 12th in the world and the top seed in the clay court tournament, booked a quarter-final clash with eighth-seeded American Sam Querrey.
“I’m very pleased to be here again,” the 33-year-old Spaniard said. “I need a few more matches to start moving better and hitting the ball cleaner, but it was very difficult because he was serving huge. I think I did quite good overall.”
Querrey advanced with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 victory over compatriot and friend Steve Johnson. “It’s not fun,” said Querrey of playing a pal. “I’m definitely glad I won, but it doesn’t quite feel the same.”
Third-seeded South African Kevin Anderson, who like Lopez had a first-round bye, defeated Argentina’s Federico Delbonis 6-7 (4/7), 6-0, 6-3. “I felt I was moving quite well,” Anderson said. “There were a few sort of hesitancies as far as where I was on clay, and I think I far exceeded that. He was a very tough opponent, so I had my work cut out for me today.”
Anderson next faces seventh-seeded Jeremy Chardy of France, a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Japan’s Go Soeda. “He’s a very talented guy,” Anderson said of Chardy. “We’ve played doubles a few times, so he’s one of my good friends on the tour. I’m going to have to play well.”