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Eugenie Bouchard showed a lot of fight to come out of her opening round victorious at the Ladies Championship Gstaad Tuesday. The popular face of the sport went to the brink against Timea Bacsinsky who lost control of her service game allowing the Canadian to take a step in the right direction winning 4-6, 7-6(1), 6-4 on the court at Roy Emerson Arena.
The Swiss star carried two advantages with her to start the tournament with the home advantage being the first and a two-match lead over the Canadian. With a short clay court stint in play before the hard court season returns, Bacsinszky gives herself a chance to make another good start. She has a win at the French Open two years ago against Bouchard winning in straight sets.
A win back at Wimbledon was just what the 24 year old Canadian needed putting together a four-match winning streak at the All England Club. She would try to dig in to take on her first obstacle and get running the way she would like to.
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Bouchard opened a 40-0 lead on Bacsinszky but gave away points on the first serve. The Swiss star rallied to deuce but couldn't hold the AD point due to unforced errors on the forehand return that gave Bouchard the service hold. Bacsinszky followed suit despite having a tough time forcing the Canadian back from earning a break.
She nearly got one of her own as Bouchard committed her first double fault in the third but recovered to contain service. They ran that way through six with the service games strengthening on both sides.
The first change arrived in the seventh as Bouchard began to rack up more double faults on serve that handed Bacsinszky the break. The Canadian had two straight in the game that had the opportunity open for the Swiss to dictate. Bouchard succeeded in a necessary hold in eighth but after another break went the way off Bacsinszky, she herself conducted a solid finish to the set scoring three set point chances and needed just two to end things in 45 minutes.
Bacsinszky finished with a 67 percent on the first serve winning 75 percent of points from it. While her return game didn't prove to be useful, the offence she had was enough to take down the Canadian.
With her opponent clearly stronger in the most critical moments of the set, Bouchard knew that some other tactic needed to be implemented and did just that in the second set. After both held to start, Bouchard held a second time before breaking Bacsinszky in the fourth game. While it was a terrific start, holding back the 29 year old was a difficult task as she watched her gap stand at one.
She managed to earn a break from the Swiss who double-faulted on serve to gain back a two-game buffer. Bouchard couldn't secure the margin she gave herself as Bacsinszky fired back with a break in the seventh before earning an important hold to level the score at four all.
The 24 year old was on the verge of losing out service in the ninth as Bacsinszky forced deuce before getting it on the second break point chance. With the double break on record, Bacsinszky served for the match but failed to get it finished due to the response of Bouchard's returns fooling the 29 year old.
She and the Canadian had to play it out in extra frames with the 24 year old serving to gain the lead back. Bouchard achieved the win in the 11th giving herself a shot at still taking the match to a decider but had to overcome Bacsinszky's service to force a tiebreak. A double fault from the 29 year old didn't get her on the right track but she overcame the issue and levelled things at six all to give herself another try at containing the match where it stood.
Bouchard refused to go out and made a statement with big shots for winners that had the Swiss star on the ropes. She found herself 1-5 and couldn't dig her way out as Bouchard earned the set point on an unforced error on the forehand. She delivered a winner far out of reach of Bacsinszky that brought the third set in play after 1 hour.
Bouchard improved on getting first serve shots to count against Bacsinszky who was having a troubling time with her second serve scoring 3 of 19 from it. With the return game sluggish, it left her in a tight spot while the Canadian gained confidence that she could continue her way in the tournament.
After a normal start to the deciding set, Bacsinszky saw her second serve getting her in trouble that led to her losing serve in the following games. Bouchard jumped on the problems of her opponent and had a solid offence that carried her to a 4-1 lead after five.
She tried to keep the consistency in her way but after talks from her coach during one of the changeovers, Bacsinszky battled to make up the ground lost. She broke Bouchard who made some mistakes on serve and couldn't break back losing two straight that put Bacsinszky within reach of a tie.
The Canadian denied her that chance despite committing a sixth double fault. The win in hand gave her a lot of energy to go for the match with two games in front of the Swiss. She started the ninth with a great net-front response that scored her a winner followed by an unforced error by Bacsinszky.
When it looked like she would have her day done and dusted, the 29 year old fought back to deuce and turned over possession of the game point to win it herself.
Bouchard had one last chance to get it done on her own service game. It was another fight to deuce as Bacsinszky hunted down her opportunity to level the set again but a bit of focus helped her keep it together after 2 hours and 46 minutes.
Despite the numerous double faults made, minimizing them at the end was a show of effort from the Canadian who would face Viktorija Golubic on Thursday.
