(New York) Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard advanced to the first round of qualifying at the U.S. Open on Tuesday, while her compatriots Alexis Galarneau and Katherine Sebov were eliminated.
Bouchard, ranked 216th in the world, defeated 18-year-old American Katherine Hui 6-2, 6-3 in 74 minutes.
The 29-year-old Westmount native had two aces and no double faults, while Hui had no aces but seven double faults.
Serving for the match at 5-2 in the second set, Bouchard saw Hui extend the suspense by breaking her rival’s serve. However, Bouchard won the next game, ending the encounter by breaking Hui’s serve for the sixth time.
In the next round, Bouchard will face Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska, seeded 12th in the women’s singles qualifying draw.
Bouchard has not played in the singles main draw at a major tournament since the French Open in 2020.
For his part, Galarneau had a roller coaster match. After winning the first set 6-3, he saw his Swiss rival Dominic Stricker win the next two 6-2 and 6-0.
Galarneau is No. 207 in the world, while Stricker is No. 127. Stricker is the 22nd seed in men’s singles qualifying.
For his part, Sebov, from Toronto, gave up in front of Belgian Yanina Wickmayer. Seeded third in qualifying, Wickmayer prevailed 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-2 in a two-hour, 44-minute duel.
