Serena Williams survives upset scare, beats Flavia Pennetta at Rogers Cup

Minutes earlier, Eugenie Bouchard had – for the second straight year – lost in the first round of her hometown tournament, in front of a crowd that included a local Army of fans who had “GENIE!” written on their white T-shirts and who stood and screamed her name, even after she dropped the first set 6-0. Bencic would still win the match 6-0, 5-7, 6-2, but for Bouchard, whose slump has dragged on for an entire year, a hard-fought loss felt like a victory.

It was the second time Bouchard was eliminated from the Canadian tournament in another disappointment to add to the list. She battled through multiple deuces in the next game and almost broke to nod things up two, but the two-time Australian Open champ was clinical when saving break points which was a theme throughout the match as she held for a 4-1 lead.

“It’s for sure a step in the right direction”, Bouchard said. “I haven’t had a lot of match play recently, but I was able to raise my game and I think it was pretty competitive…”

“So I’m pleased with my performance”. “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”. With her hopes to playing a full set against Bouchard, Bencic will hope that she can get in a solid match to put her skills to the test.

Bouchard’s fall from the top 10 – hard to believe now she was ranked fifth in the world after making it to the Wimbledon final last year and seventh when the calendar rolled over – has been mind-numbingly sudden, startling and, at times, extremely difficult to watch. So it’s definitely been a tough road.

Poor results on the court have mirrored instability off it. After last season she split with longtime coach Nick Saviano, then last week she confirmed she had also parted with his replacement, Sam Sumyk. And I feel like I’m at least not going downwards anymore.

Bencic, an 18-year-old from Wollerau, Switzerland, got her second career win over Bouchard with the original Swiss Miss, Martina Hingis, looking on courtside.

“I was fighting on every single point”, she said. “She really played well that moment”.

Bencic, the 20th-ranked player in the world, moves on to face fourth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki in the second round.

“I think the losses are completely different”, Bouchard said. “I feel like I handled myself better today than I did last year in Montreal”. “I didn’t freak out, even though I lost 6-0, and I just thought to myself that I was shaking off the rust a little bit, and I really didn’t panic”.

Bouchard said she was working with Marko Dragic on a short-term basis for the Rogers Cup.

However, her meteoric rise has been followed by an equally spectacular slide that began exactly a year ago at the Rogers Cup in Montreal where she lost her opening match to unheralded qualifier Shelby Rogers.

The 20-year-old Swiss player barely got two sets with Bouchard when the Canadian retired from play in the third round.

“I look to end the year on a much better note than I started….I’m just so eager to play matches and to feel good, to be healthy and perform well, I don’t have any expectations beyond that”, said Bouchard. Asked how that made her feel, Williams said: “Like a nice vintage wine”.