Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard beats American Lauren Davis at Connecticut Open

Aug 21, 2017 | 3:30 PM

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard defeated American Lauren Davis 6-1, 6-3 in first-round play Monday at the Connecticut Open.

Bouchard, the world No. 74 from Westmount, Que., will play top-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in the round of 16 at the WTA Tour Premier event.

Radwanska had a first-round bye.

In doubles play, Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and Yifan Xu of China posted a 6-3, 6-7 (14), 10-3 win over Andreja Klepac of the Czech Republic and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain.

The US$710,900 tournament is a warmup for the upcoming US Open.

Bouchard is a wild-card entry in the final hard-court tuneup for the U.S. Open, which begins next Monday.

In other matches, Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium beat Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-2, 6-3, and Romania’s Ana Bogdan got past Russia’s Elena Vesnina, 7-5, 7-5.

Petra Kvitova’s final tuneup for the U.S. Open ended with a 6-2, 6-1 loss to Shuai Zhang of China in the first round.

Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion and a three-time champion in New Haven, is just 4-4 on hard courts this season. The Czech player returned to the tour at the French Open in May after she was stabbed during a home invasion in December, leaving her dominant left hand seriously injured.

Zhang, ranked 29th, was playing her first match in the United States since April.

Play continues through Saturday.

— With files from The Associated Press

 

The Canadian Press