In her first match since the last Australian Open, Eugenie Bouchard experienced the joy of victory on Monday.
The Quebecer won her match in the first round of the Bogotá tournament against Switzerland’s Ylena In-Albon. The 325th player in the world signed a straight-set win 6-3, 6-2 against the 133rd-tier holder on the world chessboard.
Bouchard won 68.8% of the rallies made on his first serve, hitting two aces. She also knew how to increase her level of play when she was on the cables. In fact, the Montreal native saved five of the seven break points offered to her rival. The winner, for her part, had six breaks.
- Hear Jean-François Baril talk about Eugénie Bouchard in his sports feature via QUB radio :
‘Genius’ is making a comeback after a knee injury left her sidelined for weeks. Their last meeting was on January 8th in qualifying for the first Grand Slam tournament of the season.
In the second round in Bogotá Bouchard will face a big challenge. She meets the Russian Kamilla Rakhimova. The latter is the fourth seed of the event and holds the 90th place in the world. This will be the first meeting between the two women.
Bouchard will not be the only Canadian taking part in the second round in Bogotá, as her compatriot Carol Zhao defeated Argentina’s María Lourdes Carlé in three sets 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(6). The Stanford University graduate will have Britain’s Francesca Jones on her way to the next phase of the competition.
Katherine Sebov surprises
At the Charleston tournament, Canada’s Katherine Sebov hit back to defeat America’s Lauren Davis in the first round.
The qualifier caused the surprise by defeating the 57th player in the world in three sets 4-6, 6-1 and 6-2. That’s quite a feat for the 148th athlete in the WTA ranking.
To win, Sebov was particularly dominant in possession. She hit 78% of her first serve attempts and won more than 60% of rallies once they started her second serve.
It was a different story for Davis, who committed 11 double faults and suffered six breaks.
Sebov has an appointment with the Swiss Belinda Bencic in the round of 16 in Charleston. In addition, Leylah Annie Fernandez from Quebec will also be attending this event in South Carolina. On Tuesday she meets the Russian Evgeniya Rodina.