Tomljanovic blasts Bouchard out of Mexican Open

Eugenie Bouchard was run off the court in a first round stunner at the Mexican Open Tuesday. Croatia’s Ajla Tomljanovic took hold in the second set after fighting back through a first set tiebreaker to win 7-6(4), 6-1 on Grand Stand Caliente at the Acapulco Princess Hotel

The Canadian has been on hiatus since the Australian Open but trained for the tournament in Acapulco ready to get back into the heavy section of the hard court season. With just a week before Indian Wells, the 23 year old and sixth seed needed a good run in the round of 32 tournament facing the Croatian for the first time. Tomljanovic hasn’t been doing well in a responsive way this season losing her only two matches that date back to Melbourne. While they both seem to have huge gaps between tournaments, the Canadian stands as the biggest threat for her demise.

She opened service with a hold on the Croatian but didn’t get the full run of the table. She took things over in the third followed by a second win in a row that gave her a 3-1 hold. Not wanting to let the set get away from her, Tomljanovic fought hard on the break to force deuce with the Canadian. After two breaks, she captured a second win that made things look even. Bouchard had enough of being trailed by the Croatian and put another game between the two serving for the set in the ninth.

Tomljanovic shut Bouchard down in the game where the break saw her gain leverage and control her actions on the returns. It still left the door open for the Canadian but she failed to close it herself allowing the Croatian to force the set onward. The need to be the dominant player was Bouchard’s mission as she served up two game points to take a 6-5 lead hoping for the seventh and get up in the match. She was denied the ease of having an advantage against her opponent who struck back to take the 12^th forcing a tiebreak that made the set dead even for both.

Bouchard felt under the gun with Tomljanovic firing away becoming a very strong adversary for the Canadian. It was a fight she couldn’t seem to win as the Croatian took over and won the tiebreaker 7-4 ending the battle in 56 minutes.

The efforts from Tomljanovic increased after the two held serve on one another to start the second. She took the next two straight with a strong break that followed further success. The 23 year old seemed to have a solid grip on Bouchard who showed signs of struggle at the worst moments. It only turned into a disaster for the Canadian who couldn’t get back into the game as Tomljanovic ran away to victory with three more wins completing the straight sets stunner in 1 hour and 25 minutes. The Croatian finished the second set with an 80 percent success rate on the first serve despite her second serve underperforming. Bouchard barely found chances to do better on serve as she was run off both sides of her game.

While Bouchard wonders what went wrong, Tomljanovic would prepare for her second round bout against Kirsten Flipkens on Wednesday.