(Montreal) Without a doubt, Eugenie Bouchard still has a certain appeal with Montrealers and Quebecers. We saw it by seeing all these people show up on the site of the IGA stadium on Saturday, by the thousands of seats on center court that were occupied during her match and the many signs of encouragement she received. But there was one obstacle in her way: Danielle Collins.
In a three-part duel, Bouchard had a few good moments but never enough to earn her bye to the second round of qualifying for the women’s singles at the National Bank Tennis Open.
In her first game at IGA Stadium since 2018, Bouchard lost in three sets 1-6, 6-1, 1-6 to Collins, an American ranked 49th in the world and runner-up at the 2022 Australian Open.
As the score indicates, the wind never stopped turning during this duel, and the three rounds were expedited. The first lasted 29 minutes and the other two, 27 minutes each.
After sowing hope among the spectators by tying the duel to a set everywhere, Bouchard lost her good confidence in the third set against a player who took her game up a notch.
Before saving the honor by easily winning her serve in the sixth game of this set, Bouchard could only do better than six points over the previous five, all of which she lost in just 17 minutes.
At a press conference, Bouchard hinted that she was taken by surprise by her rival’s play and that it took her a little time to adjust.
“I didn’t expect his very deep balls. She hits with a lot of power. It took me a bit of time to manage myself in the game. But at least I could fight, try to stay in the points even when she was hitting good balls, and try to take control of the points too which I did much better in the second. There were good moments for me, for sure, in this match, ”analyzed Bouchard.
For the 29-year-old Montrealer, who once ranked fifth in the world rankings in 2014 but is now ranked 223rd, this is another setback at IGA Stadium where she has a career-high three wins and seven failures.
However, she appeared smiling at her press conference and said that she had had a good time despite the defeat.
“Since it’s been a long time, I kind of forgot what it was like to play in front of the fans here in Montreal. It’s very special, it’s something I don’t feel in any tournament in the world except here.
“There was a moment in the second set where we played a few good points in a row, and it was crazy. I couldn’t hear my thoughts in my head, they were screaming so loud. There were some special moments today. »
We don’t know if it’s officially the Bouchard effect, but the Montreal organization of the National Bank Open announced a record attendance for a first day of qualifying in Montreal at a WTA tournament with 25,991 people. .
In addition, tickets for Saturday’s session on center court have all been sold out.
“It’s a great start for our tournament: we’ve never had so many people on the IGA Stadium site on the first day of qualifying,” said Valérie Tétreault, director of the National Bank Open.
“The turnout we had today demonstrates how Montreal is a tennis city. Our qualifying numbers are comparable with the attendance other tournaments get for their main draw matches,” added Tétreault.
No Canadian resists
Before Bouchard showed up on center court, the Canadians had had a rough start to the day. After her elimination, the situation has not improved to the point where none of the six Canadians will play tomorrow.
A first fell in combat when Carol Zhao lost the flag in two identical sets of 6-3 against the Spaniard Cristina Bucsa.
A little later, in a hard-fought match on center court, Marina Stakusic, an 18-year-old Ontarian ranked 414th in the world and having only seven career games at the WTA level, nearly caused an upset against the American Alycia Parks, 48th player in the world.
After conceding the first set, Parks, a lanky 1.85m tall athlete, got out of trouble and eventually prevailed 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 in 2h 43min, despite her impressive tally of 17 double faults.
A third Canadian elimination followed, that of Bianca Fernandez, Leylah’s younger sister, on court number 9.
The 19-year-old Montrealer lost in straight sets 6-1, 6-3, in just 49 minutes, to Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko, the 46th player in the world and the top seed in the qualifying draw.
Then, at the end of the day, Katherine Sebov, the highest ranked of the six Canadian women entered in the qualifying table – at 144th place – lost in three sets against American Peyton Stearns, while Mia Kupres, a 19-year-old Albertan also lost in three sets against Kazakh Yulia Putintseva.
