Bouchard, Shapovalov advance to 2nd round at Wimbledon
'I feel a lot more comfortable on the court,' Bouchard says; Vasek Pospisil eliminated
Eugenie Bouchard and Denis Shapovalov are off to the second round at Wimbledon.
The Canadians both won first-round matches on Tuesday and will join fellow Canuck Milos Raonic in the second round.
Bouchard beat British wild card Gabriella Taylor 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 in a first-round women's match, while Shapovalov, the No. 26 seed in the men's draw, defeated Jeremy Chardy of France 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.
A finalist at Wimbledon in 2014, Bouchard was forced into the qualification draw this year after seeing her ranking tumble to No. 191 before the tournament.
The 24-year-old from Westmount, Que., is now ranked 188th after winning three qualifying matches last week. Taylor is No. 180.
"I feel a lot more comfortable on the court," Bouchard told reporters after the match. "I feel a little bit more like myself. You know, I have always deep down had the belief, and it's about, in the tough moments of the match, keeping that belief. I have that more and more now. Just trying to keep progressing."
One of the ballboys on my court today had his fly unzipped. Every time he gave me balls to serve I couldn’t help staring at it 😳😂 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wimbledon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#wimbledon</a>
—@geniebouchardShapovalov, meanwhile, beat one of the hottest players on the ATP Tour in the 46th-ranked Chardy. In his last three tournaments, Chardy won one title, reached a final and advanced to the semifinals.
The 19-year-old Shapovalov, of Richmond Hill, Ont., came into Wimbledon having lost three of his past four matches. It was his first win at Wimbledon after Shapovalov dropped his debut at the grass-court Grand Slam last year.
"I think I have definitely improved a lot on these courts from last year," Shapovalov said. "Obviously I have had some tough draws but today shows that my level is there. You know, Jeremy is a very tough player, so it shows that I'm able to play at this level."
Bouchard returned to Grand Slam main draw action at Wimbledon after failing to qualify for the French Open. The win was just her second in the past four years in the main draw at Wimbledon.
Bouchard won 73 per cent of her points on first serve, as compared to just 59 per cent for Taylor. The victor converted on five of her 13 break-point opportunities.
Bouchard said plenty of Canadians were behind her on Tuesday.
"Yeah, I felt great support," she said. "I saw a lot of Canadian flags. I got mobbed after the match, pretty much. But it's a mob of love, so I liked it.
Bouchard, now working with longtime tennis coach Robert Lansdorp, will face No. 17 seed Ashleigh Barty in the second round. The Australian beat Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland 7-5, 6-3 on Tuesday.
"I think she's playing great," Bouchard said of Barty. "I think she loves grass. I really want to raise my level and try and play my best tennis against her and see what happens."
Barty beat Bouchard in their only previous match, winning a three-setter on a hard-court in Miami last year.
Shapovalov will face unseeded Benoit Paire of France in the second round.
Pospisil out
Meanwhile, Vasek Pospisil of Vancouver lost 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan in a first-round men's match on Tuesday. Kukushkin is ranked 77th, 20 spots ahead of Pospisil, who has lost his past five first-round matches at Grand Slams.
Raonic, the No. 13 seed, will play unseeded Australian John Millman in the second round on Wednesday.
Also on Wednesday, Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa and partner Yifan Xu of China, the sixth seeds in the women's doubles draw, open their tournament against American Alison Riske and Olga Savchuk of Ukraine.
2-time champ Kvitova ousted
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova has been stunned in the first round by 50th-ranked Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 6-4, 4-6, 6-0.
Kvitova was seeded eighth and among the leading favourites at the All England Club. She was coming off a grass-court title at Birmingham, England, last month and entered Tuesday with a tour-leading 38 victories this season.
Sasnovich came in with a 2-3 career record at Wimbledon, including a first-round loss a year ago, and a 9-13 Grand Slam mark.
Nadal wins easily
Two-time champion Rafael Nadal moved into the second round with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 win over Dudi Sela of Israel.
The second-seeded Nadal hadn't played a match since claiming his 11th French Open title last month, but showed little sign of rust as he cruised to victory against Sela.
Top-seed Halep into 2nd round
Top-ranked Simona Halep eased into the second round of Wimbledon with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Kurumi Nara of Japan.
The French Open champion broke Nara four times to wrap up the win in 78 minutes.
"It was a big challenge to come and win the first round — it's not easy after winning a Grand Slam, I knew it was going to be a tough match," Halep said. "I felt OK. I didn't think too much that I didn't have any matches on grass (before Wimbledon). I thought I had enough power to adjust myself. Grass is really tough and every match can go either way. I have no expectations."
Sharapova eliminated
Wimbledon's 2004 champion Maria Sharapova tumbled out of the tournament in the opening round for the first time, beaten at her own game by fellow-Russian Vitalia Diatchenko 6-7(3) 7-6(3) 6-4.
Sharapova served for the match at 5-3 in the second set and was up a break in the third set as well. But Diatchenko refused to give in and won 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3), 6-4.
It is the first time Diatchenko has been past the first round at Wimbledon.