Montreal’s Eugenie Bouchard lost in three sets 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 to American Ashlyn Krueger in the first leg of the Australian Open qualifying round on Monday.
Bouchard was the victim of a broken service in the last game of the duel, guaranteeing the victory to his 18-year-old opponent after 1h 53 minutes of action.
Krueger occupies the 183e rank in the world rankings while Bouchard, semi-finalist at this Grand Slam tournament in 2014, ranks 317e.
In other qualifying matches, Carol Zhao of Ontario earned a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Eudice Chong of Hong Kong, while Montreal’s Gabriel Diallo lost 6-3, 6-4 to ‘Australian Aleksandar Vukic.
Laval’s Alexis Galarneau must play his first qualifying match against Briton Ryan Peniston, while Toronto’s Katherine Sebov must face Czech Linda Noskova.
Main draw fixtures are scheduled to begin on Monday January 16 and end on January 29.
Among the men, Félix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov and Vasek Pospisil are already registered in men’s singles, as are Leylah Fernandez, Bianca Andreescu and Rebecca Marino, in women’s singles.
To see in video