By Adrianna Outlaw | Tuesday, June 9, 2015
World No. 76 Yaroslava Shvedova reeled off six straight games, bouncing Genie Bouchard, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4, from the Top Shelf Open.
Photo credit: Christopher Levy
The first round continues to be the final stop for Genie Bouchard.
The top-seeded Bouchard built a 4-0 third-set lead in her 's-Hertogenbosch opener today and was two points away from a 5-0 lead in the decider only to collapse against Yaroslava Shvedova.
More: Becker Says Djokovic, Federer Don't Like Each Other
World No. 76 Shvedova reeled off six straight games, bouncing Bouchard, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4, to reach the Top Shelf Open second round.
It was Shvedova's first WTA main-draw victory since she reached the Bogota final in April and came two days after she played the Roland Garros doubles final.
"I'm happy I managed to adapt to the grass today — on Sunday I just finished the final of doubles in Roland Garros," Shvedova said. "It was a good match. It wasn't easy — she's playing well, and she was playing very well in the second and third set. But I got all my energy together from deep inside myself, and I just kept going. In the end everything was working for me, and I'm really happy."
It was Bouchard's sixth opening-round exit in her last eight events. Bouchard dropped to 1-8 in her last nine matches after losing a match of wild momentum shifts.
The 11th-ranked Canadian, who won 10 of 11 games at one point, could not halt her slide, losing 12 consecutive points to suffer her second straight first-round loss. Bouchard fell to 44th-ranked Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic, 6-4, 6-4, in the French Open first round last month.
"I'm always disappointed to lose, but I feel like I played some good tennis, and I'm getting closer to where I want to be on the court," Bouchard said afterward. "It's a small step forward. I feel like I was serving and returning better. I felt like I was playing a lot more instinctively out there than I have been. I need to close matches out better, but this was a step in the right direction."
The top seed may take solace in the fact she also lost her first-round match to No. 75 Vania King at the 2014 Top Shelf Open and bounced back to reach the Wimbledon final weeks later.