Eugenie Bouchard handled her opening round match with success at the Coupe Banque Nationale Wednesday night. The top-seeded Canadian managed to gain a win over Mandy Minella 6-3, 6-4 on Court Banque Nationale.
This was a first meeting between the two players with Bouchard standing as the heavy favorite in the tournament. The popular Canadian didn’t get the run at the US Open she wanted losing to Katerina Siniakova in the first round. With the season coming to a close in two months, Bouchard’s actions to play well in Quebec with fans in full support had to happen right away.
The 30-year-old Luxembourger gave Elina Svitolina quite a first round match despite losing in her opening round. Minella’s chance to take on another big player is huge coming off the final grand slam of the season.
She gave Bouchard a running in the very first game that was due to her opponent committing a double fault that forced deuce. Minella held the advantage and never let go sealing the first break. The Canadian responded with an important break that leveled her back before consolidating it with a hold in the third.
Bouchard maintained the winning streak winning on a double break point handing the 30 year old another loss. She put an end to that in the fifth getting the best of Bouchard but failed at holding a serve. Things were going the Canadian’s way despite a fight in the seventh where Minella made her earn the victory after three breaks.
Bouchard nearly had the lock down against the Luxembourger but a ball with too much speed gave Minella life which led to her fighting on. She nearly put a scare into the crowd who was clearly behind Bouchard but the 22-year-old held firm for the break. She served for the match in the ninth landing her first ace against Minella but followed it up with a third double fault.
It set up another battle on deuce where Bouchard had to get out of trouble fast. She watched as Minella struggled in the rally before smashing a shot into the net to end the set. It took 42 minutes for Bouchard to get the lead in her hands hoping to have a cleaner run in the second. She had a much better serve than that of her opponent who an overall messy offense.
She made an improvement in the second set holding serve in the first game. It was the last bit of good moments she saw as Bouchard took off building another three game winning streak leading once more. It was broken by Minella in the fifth who gained a second service hold. She managed a third straight with an ace to end things in the seventh. Despite being down on the score, the 30-year-old continued the fight on putting pressure on Bouchard.
The eighth game was a huge show of force from the Canadian as she held Minella back while on serve leaving her opponent to do something while the 22-year-old played for the match. The Luxembourger maintained service over Bouchard inching closer to a tie after nine but still need a break to force the set onward. Forehand errors began to come at the worst time for her giving Bouchard a push for victory. It all came to a halt as unforced errors plagued Bouchard.
She struck back forcing deuce where a winner followed by an unforced error on the count of Minella that ended things in 1 hour and 24 minutes. With a late start to her match, the 22-year-old gets into the groove of the tournament taking on Alla Kudryavtseva in the second round Thursday.
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