“My confidence was going down in all areas of my life”.
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The 21-year-old from Westmount, Que., has now lost her first match in eight of her past 10 WTA tournaments.
Bencic had the edge nearing the end of the match but aside from the numbers, Bouchard’s unending losing streak was the major factor of her advancement into the second round.
“It’s easy to let yourself get negative when you lose a couple of matches in a row or you know your body’s not feeling great”, Bouchard said. “It’s definitely been a tough road”.
“I feel like I started out a little bit rusty in a sense”, Bouchard said afterwards.
“So I was like trying to find the balance and trying to actually learn what I needed as a person”.
At the change sides (up 6-5), Lisicki decided to call the physio for a medical timeout as she had some troubles with her left wrist anyway, but it seemed like it wasn’t serious.
In a surprise start to the second set, Bouchard attacked near the net that helped her win the opening game. The 18-year-old from Switzerland had seized it mid-set, overcoming a deficit to arrive at match point against the tournament’s fifth seed.
The match however ended up going in the Swiss’ favour, who will now face Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark. The 20th-ranked player in the world praised Bouchard for how she responded in the second set.
Bencic recovered and looked like she had the match, serving at 5-4.
The tenth game was a do or die moment for Bouchard as she was playing to stay alive.
Bouchard was Canada’s golden girl last year, rising from No. 32 in the WTA Tour rankings to No. 5, before finishing 2014 ranked No. 7. “I think the technical aspect is important, but also the physical, tactical and mental” confirmed Bouchard.
What a difference a year makes. “I’m so eager to play tournaments, play matches and feel good”. “So I’m proud of that”.
Since then, she has fired two coaches – Nick Saviano in November and Sam Sumyk last week.
Now it’s onto Cincinnati for Bouchard, who remains optimistic things will get turned around very soon.
“I just felt off, you know”.
But she does intend on being near the top, contending for the biggest prizes.
Francoise Abanda of Montreal lost to 16th-seeded Andrea Petkovic of Germany, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, and Carol Zhao of Richmond Hill, Ont., lost, 6-1, 6-1, to American Madison Brengle.
Despite the numbers (nine aces, 61% of total points won) telling a different story, Williams wasn’t satisfied with how she played. Bencic says growing from a top-20 player to a top-10 star means strengthening every aspect of her game, while recognizing that advances don’t come as quickly as you approach the top of the rankings.
On Wednesday, Bencic’s first serves topped out just north of 130 km/h – contrast that with 200 km/h rockets Serena Williams delivered in her Rogers Cup opener – and she didn’t record a single ace.
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Austin said the good news for the now-25th-ranked Bouchard was that Tuesday’s three-set loss to Bencic kept her on the court long enough to establish some improvement.
