Bouchard eliminated from Rogers Cup in first round for second straight year

But she isn’t going to get down on herself, not now after being through so many disappointments on the court this year. Since then, she has been falling out of tournaments so fast that the thought of her was distant to most fans of the sport.

She has lost the first match in eight of her last 10 WTA events. Azarenka was just moving her all over the court and painting lines like it was her job.

While this tournament came to an end early, she showed the hometown crowd she still had some of that vintage Bouchard fight.

Rain Monday made for a crowded schedule of 28 matches Tuesday, featuring three Canadians in singles play. Williams was frustrated with how she was playing and then got too angry to focus. Perhaps that ab injury has affected her more than she’s saying but her problems run deeper when you consider she has lost 13 of her last 15 matches, many of them against qualifiers in the early rounds of tournament she has been seeded in.

Suddenly, Bouchard was controlling the points, hitting her spots for winners and was up 3-0.

Passing shots: Bouchard was the last Canadian to be eliminated in Toronto. All it took was one break opportunity to suffice for her to get on the board and take the lead.

The concerns were beginning to loom as the 21 year old from Montreal showed signs of overcompensating her attempts to shoot accurately. That has certainly made her look good on magazine covers and in fashion shoots, but it has surely not helped her tennis. The Canadian star seemed void of all confidence. The 20th-ranked player in the world praised Bouchard for how she responded in the second set. Though the numbers didn’t look like a sweep, it was clear that the Swiss tennis star was in control of her skills while Bouchard continued to struggle with her own.

However, Bouchard managed back to win the second set, despite being down 5-3. Bouchard had 27 winners to Bencic’s 15. “So I think it was really good for me to have that match play”. Bouchard’s serve was broken right out of the gate, and even the local Genie Army gathered here grew quiet for a bit.

The match however ended up going in the Swiss’ favour, who will now face Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark.

The tenth game was a do or die moment for Bouchard as she was playing to stay alive.

She said she “played the whole match pain free”, although she admitted she was rusty due to the long layoff.

“I didn’t freak out, even though I lost 6-0”, Bouchard said of how she turned things around.

“It definitely wasn’t working”, Bouchard said. The Canadian charged back into play forcing deuce and winning on a rally that had Bencic running from side to side until it was too much for her to take.

Indeed, when the second set began, a completely different Bouchard appeared, showing shades of the one who rose to No. 5 in the world previous year.

After a woeful opening set, Svitolina started off the second in the best way possible…