Women's round-up: Eugenie Bouchard's woeful run continues with early exit
ByReuters
Updated 26/05/2015 at 21:43 GMT
Eugenie Bouchard's miserable run of form continued with a French Open first-round exit on Tuesday but the Canadian golden girl believes she just needs to start trusting herself to get back in the groove.
Eugenie Bouchard plays a shot to Kristina Mladenovic
Image credit: Reuters
The sixth seed, dubbed the next big thing of women's tennis last year, arrived in Paris having lost six out of seven matches and there was no improvement on Court Suzanne Lenglen as she lost 6-4 6-4 to Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic.
Wimbledon runner-up Bouchard, who reached the last four at Roland Garros last year, resisted well in the opening set but was outplayed in the second.
Mladenovic, ranked 44th in the world, struggled to handle the pressure after opening a 5-0 lead in the second set but a strong first serve on match point ensured a second-round meeting with Czech Klara Koukalova or Montenegro's Danka Kovinic.
"I expected a good season, better than last year," Bouchard told a news conference. "I have learned a lot recently. Moreover I have to be patient.
"The results won't come immediately. I know I can go through difficult times.
"When I'm playing my best tennis is when I'm being more instinctive. I think that's something I need to get back... trusting myself because I know I can play well."
Bouchard has failed to win more than two matches in a row since reaching the Australian Open quarter-finals at the start of the year.
Czech fourth seed Petra Kvitova dug deep to reach the second round as she laboured to a 6-4 3-6 6-4 victory against New Zealand's Marina Erakovic.
The double Wimbledon champion looked nothing like the player who defeated world number one Serena Williams en route to the Madrid Open claycourt title earlier this month as she put in a shaky performance on court Philippe Chatrier.
"I knew it would be difficult, I always struggle at the beginning of tournaments," Kvitova, who will next take on either France's Pauline Parmentier or Silvia Soler-Espinosa of Spain.
Kvitova was under early pressure, facing four break points in her first three service games with Erakovic grabbing the last one to go 3-2 up when the Czech double faulted.
Kvitova, however, broke back by converting her first break point in the eighth game as Erakovic sent a forehand just wide and the Czech went on to take the set on her opponent's serve.
Erakovic did not let go though, breaking in the first game of the second set as Kvitova's string of unforced errors continued, and the Kiwi followed up with another break.
Kvitova pulled one break back but dropped serve again as Erakovic levelled the contest. Even though the New Zealander broke twice in the decider, she could only hold serve once, bowing out with a forehand into the net.
"I have to say the conditions weren't really easy for me. I think it was quite cold and the balls are really heavy, and they didn't really fly," said Kvitova, who will next take on Silvia Soler-Espinosa of Spain.
"For me it was really difficult to go for the shots. It was tough to make any winners or, you know, ace from the serve or something like that.
"It was very difficult today. It was quite a long match, big fight. Sometimes I couldn't win my serve. So it was a little bit difficult. But that's how it is in the first round of grand slams."
Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, the women's champion in 2009, was made to work hard by powerful Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens, winning 6-1 4-6 6-2.
Francesca Schiavone, another former women's singles champion, was also in action later on an outside court as the first round stretched into a third day.
Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki made short work of Italy's Karin Knapp, the fifth seed winning 6-3 6-0.
Results from the French Open Women's Singles Round 1 matches on Tuesday
Lourdes Dominguez Lino (Spain) beat Christina McHale (U.S.) 3-6 7-6(4) 6-4
Belinda Bencic (Switzerland) beat Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) 6-3 6-3
Danka Kovinic (Montenegro) beat Klara Koukalova (Czech Republic) 6-3 7-6(4)
Anna-Lena Friedsam (Germany) beat Alexa Glatch (U.S.) 6-2 4-6 6-4
1-Serena Williams (U.S.) beat Andrea Hlavackova (Czech Republic) 6-2 6-3
16-Madison Keys (U.S.) beat Varvara Lepchenko (U.S.) 7-6(3) 6-3
Irina Falconi (U.S.) beat Manon Arcangioli (France) 6-2 6-0
Kristina Mladenovic (France) beat 6-Eugenie Bouchard (Canada) 6-4 6-4
Francesca Schiavone (Italy) beat Wang Qiang (China) 3-6 6-3 6-4
Sesil Karatantcheva (Bulgaria) beat 25-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) 6-3 6-4
10-Andrea Petkovic (Germany) beat Shelby Rogers (U.S.) 6-2 6-1
Alison Van Uytvanck (Belgium) beat Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (Slovakia) 7-6(4) 7-6(7)
23-Timea Bacsinszky (Switzerland) beat Lara Arruabarrena Vecino (Spain) 6-3 6-4
Silvia Soler Espinosa (Spain) beat Pauline Parmentier (France) 6-4 6-3
5-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) beat Karin Knapp (Italy) 6-3 6-0
32-Zarina Diyas (Kazakhstan) beat Dinah Pfizenmaier (Germany) 6-4 6-1
4-Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) beat Marina Erakovic (New Zealand) 6-4 3-6 6-4
Julia Goerges (Germany) beat CoCo Vandeweghe (U.S.) 6-2 5-7 6-1
18-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat Kiki Bertens (Netherlands) 6-1 4-6 6-2
Tereza Smitkova (Czech Republic) beat Taylor Townsend (U.S.) 6-3 6-4
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