Montreal’s Eugenie Bouchard was eliminated in her first match at the Odlum Brown Open in Vancouver on Tuesday, losing 6-2, 6-2 to Arianne Hartono of the Netherlands.
Holder of the 166th rank in the WTA rankings, Hartono needed only 70 minutes to win the match. She got there without scoring a single ace and despite seven double faults, including six in the second set.
Her first-serve percentage was just 47 percent overall, but Hartono won 85 percent of the points after she lodged her first ball in play. three break points and saved two.
In the loss, Bouchard had an ace, four double faults and had a 63 percent first-ball success rate. However, she won only 56 percent of the points after hitting her first serves, and she saved just one of the six break points she faced.
Hartono, 26, took a 3-2 lead in the first set thanks to a break in the fifth game, without Bouchard scoring a single point.
The Dutchman added a break in the seventh game before ending the first set by winning her serve without awarding a point.
During this first set, Hartono conceded only four points on his serve.
The Dutchman scored a break in the first game of the second set and another in the fifth game to give herself a 4-1 cushion.
Bouchard was finally able to steal a game on Hartono’s serve immediately after, but the Montrealer suffered another break, her fifth in the game, in the seventh game.
Bouchard fought hard to extend the duel, saving two match points before finally giving up.
Bouchard, who had received a bye from tournament organizers, was making his first singles outing since March 16, 2021, at the Monterrey Open in Mexico.
In her match against China’s Lin Zhu, which she lost 7-5, 7-6(3), she suffered a right shoulder injury for which she underwent surgery.
On Sunday, she and Kayla Cross won their first-round doubles duel against Italians Lucia Bronzetti and Elisabetta Cocciaretto.
Bouchard and Cross are scheduled to play their next doubles match on Thursday against the duo of Japan’s Miyu Kato and America’s Asia Muhammad.
Two other Canadians are on Tuesday night’s singles schedule, including Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino, who will face American Emma Navarro.
If she beats Navarro, Marino, seeded sixth in the tournament, will find Bouchard’s faller in the next round.