(Vancouver) Montreal’s Eugenie Bouchard was eliminated in her first game at the Odlum Brown Open in Vancouver on Tuesday, losing 6-2, 6-2 to Arianne Hartono of the Netherlands.
Posted at 8:35 p.m.
Holder of 166e rank in the WTA rankings, Hartono only needed 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 success percentage was only 47% in the game as a whole, but Hartono won 85% 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% first-ball success rate. However, she won only 56% 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 round, Hartono conceded only four points on his serve.
The Dutchman broke in the first game of the second end 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.