NEW YORK — Back on the Grand Slam stage, Eugenie Bouchard returned to her winning ways.
The seventh-seeded Bouchard routed Olga Govortsova 6-2, 6-1 on Tuesday in the first round of the U.S. Open. The last time she played at a major tournament, the 20-year-old made history: the first Canadian to reach a Grand Slam final.
But in the Wimbledon title match, she was swept away by Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-0, and things didn’t go much better in her three hard-court tuneups for the U.S. Open. Bouchard won just one of her four matches, including an upset loss in her opener in her home tournament in Montreal.
But against the 117th-ranked Govortsova, she had little trouble. Govortsova, who has been ranked as high as 35th, had won just two main draw WTA matches this year.
Ana Ivanovic was feeling good about her game coming into the U.S. Open, and it showed Tuesday. The eighth-seeded Serb beat American Alison Riske 6-3, 6-0. Ivanovic has won 48 matches this year, more than anyone else on tour.
The 2008 French Open champion has struggled to get back to that level but finally seems to be inching closer. She returned to the top 10 this month for the first time in more than five years.
“The confidence is on a high level,” she said. “I had a great season behind me.”
The 24-year-old Riske made a breakthrough at last year’s U.S. Open, reaching the fourth round after an upset of Petra Kvitova. She reached a career-high ranking of No. 40 this summer.
Ivanovic was broken in the first game Tuesday but quickly took control. She’s won three tournaments this year, tied with Maria Sharapova for second behind Serena Williams.
Ivanovic upset Williams to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals. She was playing well heading to Roland Garros but lost in the third round to Lucie Safarova.
In her last tuneup before coming to New York, Ivanovic beat Sharapova in the semifinals in Cincinnati before losing to Williams in the title match.
Samantha Stosur, the 2011 U.S. Open champ, also quickly dispatched a young American, beating Lauren Davis 6-1, 6-4. The 49th-ranked Davis fell to 0-3 at her home Grand Slam event.
Svetlana Kuznetsova lost her first-round U.S. Open match for the first time since 2005, the year she was the tournament’s defending champion. Kuznetsova, seeded 20th this time, was beaten 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (3) by 82nd-ranked Marina Erakovic of New Zealand.
Roger Federer and Serena Williams play the night session at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Williams faces American teen Taylor Townsend, who’s making her U.S. Open debut.
John Isner, a former top American college player, beat this year’s top American college player. The 13th-seeded Isner won 7-6 (5), 6-2, 7-6 (2) against Marcos Giron, who earned his first spot in a Grand Slam tournament when he won the NCAA title for UCLA in May.
Fellow American Sam Querrey improved to 3-9 in five-set matches with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Argentina’s Maximo Gonzalez.
Another American, Jack Sock, retired from his match because of a right calf injury. Sock was trailing 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 to Pablo Andujar of Spain when he decided he couldn’t continue.
Tenth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan cruised to a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 victory over American Wayne Odesnik, showing no apparent effects from a toe injury that hampered his preparations. The 176th-ranked Odesnik earned a wild card into the U.S. Open, his first appearance in five years. He served a yearlong ban after pleading guilty for importing human growth hormone into Australia.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.