MONTREAL – Tennis fans in Montreal are hanging their heads in disappointment following the early exit of Eugenie Bouchard from the Rogers Cup.
The Westmount native lost in three sets, 6-0, 2-6, 6-0 to American qualifier Shelby Rogers.
The loss is a big blow to Bouchard who has been having a spectacular year.
She reached the semifinals of both the French Open and Australian Open, and reached the finals of Wimbledon last month.
But the 20-year-old ranked eighth in the world on the WTA Tour was no match for Rogers, ranked 113.
Bouchard hit frequent unforced errors and appeared flat from the moment the match began.
Rogers, by contrast, came out firing with blistering ground strokes and returns of serve.
Bouchard’s energy level seemed to peak in the second set with Montreal fans cheering her on and she managed to win the set.
But her level of play wasn’t sustained and Rogers easily won the third set.
“I feel like a Montrealer who just lost a game. Like a Canadiens game. And it hurts. But I mean this is the game; the girl played well and I’m happy for her but we lost Genie,” one Montreal tennis fan said.
“I found her nervous in the start. Maybe all the people here in her hometown, that’s what creates it,” said another immediately following Bouchard’s loss.
Tournament organizers are also disappointed but they say ticket sales won’t suffer.
Eugene Lapierre, the tournament director expects to set a world attendance record for a one-week, female-only event.
There are still plenty of other headliners competing including the well known Williams sisters and the hard-hitting Russian star, Maria Sharapova.
Second round matches continue all day and evening on Wednesday.
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