Home support proved no help as Eugenie Bouchard's struggles continued Tuesday with a straight-sets loss to qualifier Donna Vekic at the WTA hardcourt tournament in Toronto. Croatia's Vekic powered to a 6-3, 6-4 victory, to the disappointment of a partisan crowd whose vocal support couldn't lift Bouchard.
The Canadian, who has just one match win since a second-round exit at the French Open, committed 32 unforced errors and seven double faults. She was broken six times by the 21-year-old Vekic, who is in the main draw of this US Open tuneup for the first time.
"I guess I am going to have to have a tournament in Croatia to finally have the home crowd," said Vekic, who booked a second-round clash with German third seed Angelique Kerber - who held the world number one ranking earlier this year. Bouchard, touted as a rising star when she reached the 2014 Wimbledon final on the heels of semi-final appearances at the Australian and French Opens, was once ranked as high as fifth in the world. She's now 70th and received a wildcard entry into the main draw, but her Toronto campaign lasted just 94 minutes.
"I'm obviously a bit low in confidence right now," Bouchard said. "So it's tough to get through tough matches when you're in a moment like that." In second-round action, former world number one Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, seeded sixth, powered through with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine also advanced with a 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 win over Russian Daria Kasatkina. In other first-round matches, 10th-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland continued her dominance of big-serving American CoCo Vandeweghe with a 6-3, 6-2 win.
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