Sport

Bouchard dispels notions of poor hardcourt form

Other winners include Ana Ivanovic, Sam Stosur, John Isner and Ivo Karlovic

Eugenie Bouchard of Canada celebrates after defeating Olga Govortsova of Belarus in the women’s singles first round match on Day Two. Photograph: Getty Images
Eugenie Bouchard of Canada celebrates after defeating Olga Govortsova of Belarus in the women’s singles first round match on Day Two. Photograph: Getty Images
Tue Aug 26 2014 - 23:58

Powerful Canadian upstart Eugenie Bouchard launched her US Open campaign with a bang, blasting by Olga Govortsova of Belarus in under an hour yesterday to sprint into the second round.

The 20-year-old, pigtailed Bouchard, the only woman to reach the semi-finals of the year’s first three majors, eradicated questions about her hard court form with an overwhelming 6-2, 6-1 win on a sunny day at Flushing Meadows.

Seventh-seeded Bouchard, who won only one match in three events since losing to Petra Kvitova in the Wimbledon final last month, ripped 19 winners and forced 24 errors from an outclassed Govortsova.

Bouchard, whose combination of skill and beauty landed her on the cover of Sunday's New York Times magazine, was joined in the second round by eighth-seeded former world number one Ana Ivanovic and 2011 champion Sam Stosur.

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On the men’s side, 10th seed Kei Nishikori of Japan, 13th-seeded American John Isner and 25th seed Ivo Karlovic of Croatia were among first-round winners.

Nishikori dismissed American wild card Wayne Odesnik 6-2, 6-4, 6-2, Isner ousted compatriot Marcos Giron 7-6 (5), 2-6, 7-6 (2) and Karlovic eliminated Jarkko Nieminen of Finland in four sets. Sam Querrey gave local fans another cause to cheer with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win over Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina.

Former champion Sam Stosur carried her recent momentum into New York with a first-round victory that extended a perfect record for Australians so far.

Stosur pushed past 49th-ranked American Lauren Davis 6-1, 6-4 to put behind her a shock, first-round ouster at Flushing Meadows last year to American qualifier Victoria Duval.

The win by 21st-ranked Stosur, only the third player to beat Serena Williams in a grand slam final, made it five-for-five for Australian players in the opening round.

Stosur joined 32nd-ranked Casey Dellacqua and Anastasia Rodionova (221), and men’s players Nick Kyrgios (60) and Matthew Ebden (94) in the second round at Flushing Meadows.

"I am feeling good," said Stosur. "Going to Connecticut last week and playing well there and making semis, I think is a huge boost. I couldn't really be pleased more with the way that I have had this lead-up."

RESULTS
Men's Singles 1st rd: (28) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spa) bt Yen-Hsun Lu (Tpe) 6-4 6-2 6-2, Marcel Granollers (Spa) bt Jurgen Melzer (Aut) 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 6-2, (10) Kei Nishikori (Jpn) bt Wayne Odesnik (USA) 6-2 6-4 6-2, (25) Ivo Karlovic (Cro) bt Jarkko Nieminen (Fin) 6-4 6-4 3-6 6-4, Sam Querrey (USA) bt Maximo Gonzalez (Arg) 6-2 4-6 6-4 4-6 6-3, Federico Del Bonis (Arg) bt Noah Rubin (USA) 6-4 6-3 6-0,(15) Fabio Fognini (Ita) bt Andrey Golubev (Kaz) 6-4 6-4 6-2, Pablo Andujar (Spa) bt Jack Sock (USA) 6-4 3-6 6-1 ret, (13) John Isner (USA) bt Marcos Giron (USA) 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 7-6 (7-2), Victor Estrella Burgos (Dom) bt Igor Sijsling (Ned) 2-6 6-4 6-3 6-2, Borna Coric (Cro) bt (29) Lukas Rosol (Cze) 6-4 6-1 6-2, Jan-Lennard Struff (Ger) bt Mikhail Kukushkin (Kaz) 2-6 3-6 6-3 6-3 7-5, (26) Gilles Simon (Fra) bt Radu Albot (Mol) 6-3 6-4 6-2.

Women's Singles 1st rd: Sorana Cirstea (Rom) bt Heather Watson (Gbr) 6-1 6-1, Karolina Pliskova (Cze) bt Yvonne Meusburger (Aut) 6-2 6-2, Qiang Wang (Chn) bt Paula Kania (Pol) 6-2 6-0, Mona Barthel (Ger) bt Shuai Zhang (Chn) 6-1 6-2, (8) Ana Ivanovic (Ser) bt Alison Riske (USA) 6-3 6-0, (24) Samantha Stosur (Aus) bt Lauren Davis (USA) 6-1 6-4, (29) Casey Dellacqua (Aus) bt Patricia Mayr-Achleitner (Aut) 7-5 6-3, Varvara Lepchenko (USA) bt Alison Van Uytvanck (Bel) 7-5 6-2, Marina Erakovic (Nzl) bt (30) Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) 3-6 6-2 7-6 (7-3), Elena Vesnina (Rus) bt Yung-Jan Chan (Tpe) 6-0 7-5, Shelby Rogers (USA) bt Maryna Zanevska (Ukr) 6-4 6-3, (30) Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (Cze) bt Ashleigh Barty (Aus) 6-1 6-3, (7) Eugenie Bouchard (Can) bt Olga Govortsova (Blr) 6-2 6-1, (11) Flavia Pennetta (Ita) bt Julia Goerges (Ger) 6-3 4-6 6-1, Polona Hercog (Slo) bt Elina Svitolina (Ukr) 6-2 7-6 (7-4), (3) Petra Kvitova (Cze) bt Kristina Mladenovic (Fra) 6-1 6-0, Kaia Kanepi (Est) bt Pauline Parmentier (Fra) 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 6-1, Christina McHale (USA) bt Chanelle Scheepers (Rsa) 6-2 1-6 7-6 (7-5).