Lauren Davis of the United States returns to Eugenie Bouchard of Canada at the Family Circle Cup tennis tournament in Charleston Wednesday. — AP
CHARLESTON, South Carolina — Eugenie Bouchard knew she was pointed to bigger things at the Family Circle Cup last spring. After the top-seeded Bouchard fell to unseeded American Lauren Davis in her opening match this time around, the Canadian star isn't sure where she's heading.
Bouchard, ranked seventh in the world, lost 6-3, 6-1 Wednesday, a thorough beating that left her bothered and dissecting every aspect of her game. “As soon as it was over, definitely a bit of anger, but also kind of this confusion, slash, like quest to find what's wrong, like this kind of searching feeling that, ‘OK, like I know something's off,'” Bouchard said. “I know something's not right. So I want to find it.”
Davis, a 21-year-old American, was in control much of the way against the world's seventh-ranked player. Davis won nine of the final 11 games of the match and broke Bouchard's serve twice in the final set to pull off the upset.
Bouchard's loss came a short time after No. 2 seed Ekaterina Makarova, one of only two top-10 players in the field, won her opening match over Zhang Shuai 5-7, 6-3, 6-3, then withdrew because of a gastrointestinal illness. Makarova's departure means 13th-seeded Irina-Camelia Begu, the 26-year-old Russian's next opponent, will advance to Friday's quarterfinals.
Begu, of Romania, advanced by defeating Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova, 6-0, 6-7 (4), 6-4.
In other matches, No. 4 seed Sara Errani of Italy topped last year's finalist, Jana Cepelova of Slovakia, 6-3, 7-6 (5).
Seventh-seeded Madison Keys became the third player from the United States in the round of 16 when she beat Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine, 6-2, 6-1. Past Family Circle champion and former US Open winner Sam Stosur of Australia, the ninth seed, fell in three sets to Lara Arruabarrena of Spain, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. No. 15 seed Mona Barthel beat American Sloane Stephens 6-3, 7-6 (2). No. 12 seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland lost to Danka Kovinic of Montenegro, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Lopez launches title defense
Spain's Feliciano Lopez got his ATP title defense in Houston off to a smooth start Wednesday with a 6-3, 6-3 win over American Sam Groth.
Lopez, ranked a career-high 12th in the world and the top seed in the clay court tournament, booked a quarterfinal clash with eighth-seeded American Sam Querrey.
Querrey advanced with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 victory over compatriot and friend Steve Johnson.
Third-seeded South African Kevin Anderson, who like Lopez had a first-round bye, defeated Argentina's Federico Delbonis 6-7 (4-7), 6-0, 6-3. Anderson next faces seventh-seeded Jeremy Chardy of France, a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Japan's Go Soeda.
Cornet defeats Hercog
In Poland, second-seeded Alize Cornet rallied from a set down to beat Slovenia's Polona Hercog 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 and advance to the quarterfinals of the Katowice Open Wednesday.
Third-seeded Camila Giorgi of Italy, last year's runner-up, beat Polish qualifier Magda Linette 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-3 to reach the last eight. Romania's Monica Niculescu and Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic advanced with straight sets victories. — Agencies
