New Haven: Wimbledon runner-up Eugenie Bouchard got off to a sizzling start Monday at the WTA Tour’s Connecticut Open tournament, a final US Open tune-up.
The third-seeded Canadian star thrashed Serb Bojana Jovanovski 6-1, 6-1 in 52 minutes on the hardcourts at the Connecticut Tennis Center at Yale University.
The win ended a three match losing streak for world number eight Bouchard.
“I was happy I was able to keep my level up the whole match and get my first win since Wimbledon,” Bouchard said. “I want to keep the momentum going.”
Bouchard next faces 2011 US Open champion Samantha Stosur, who held off Japan’s Kurumi Nara 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (10/12), 6-2.
Bouchard won the first seven points of the match en route to compiling a 5-0 first set lead. She also won the first five games of the second set. Bouchard broke serve six times and saved five of six break points on her own serve.
Bouchard said she is struggling with her health. “I really haven’t been healthy since Wimbledon. It’s been a little bit of a struggle. But I’m glad I’ve been able to play through it, and hopefully I’ll get some matches in this week,” Bouchard said.
Spain’s Garbine Muguruza upset seventh-seeded former French Open runner-up Sara Errani of Italy 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.
Also advancing were Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova, Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, France’s Caroline Garcia, and Chinese qualifier Peng Shuai.
Romanian Simona Halep beat 2012 titlist Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic in last year’s final. Halep is the top seed and Kvitova is seeded second.
Halep begins her tournament with a match against Rybarikova.
Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Jarkko Nieminen, of Finland, won their second round matches at the ATP Tour’s Winston-Salem Open at Wake Forest University. The fifth-seeded Garcia-Lopez of Spain rallied past German Dustin Brown 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, 6-2 at the $600,000 (Dh2.2 million) hardcourt event, a final US Open tune-up. Nieminen, the No. 15 seed, beat German Benjamin Becker 7-5, 6-4.
American Sam Querrey defeated Spain’s Pere Riba 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 in first-round action. Querrey will next face fellow American Steve Johnson on Tuesday.
In other opening-round action, Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu toppled American wild card Robby Ginepri 6-3, 7-5, Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz rolled over Argentinian Carlos Berlocq 6-1, 6-4, and Kitzbuhel champion David Goffin of Belgium ousted Austrian veteran and defending Winston-Salem champ Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-4. Melzer beat Frenchman Gael Monfils in last year’s final.
