FRANCE – MAY 28: during her womens singles first round match against during Day three of the 2019 French Open at Roland Garros on May 28

Eugenie Bouchard fell in straight sets to Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko in her first round match at Roland Garros, losing 6-2, 6-2.

The 25-year-old Canadian was considered the underdog against the No. 27-seeded Ukrainian.

Just like Bianca Andreescu, Bouchard was playing her first competitive match in over two months, which might have explained her slow start. Despite showing flashes of strong play, Bouchard gave up an early break to Tsurenko – after the Ukrainian connected on a nice cross-court winner to go up 2-0. Then, Tsurenko broke the 2014 French Open semifinalist a second time by scoring four straight points to secure the opening set.

But from that point on, Bouchard seemed to catch her stride.

Having already missed out on three break opportunities to start the second set, the Canadian would eventually secure her first break of the match on Tsurenko’s next service game. That helped galvanize the crowd on Court No.1 to get behind her. However, down 3-2, Bouchard fought off three break points before an unforced error by the 25-year-old put Tsurenko in the driver’s seat. Something that the World No. 27 wouldn’t look back from.

Bouchard had been out of action since losing in Miami Open qualifying and did not play one clay match leading into Roland Garros for the first time since 2012. The 25-year-old had missed that time with an abdominal injury, which she said she had first noticed in Dubai and continued to plague her through March.

Coming into this match, Bouchard and Tsurenko had split their two previous meetings – with the Montrealer winning the most recent showdown, a thrilling 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5) result in Fed Cup play back in 2018.

(Feature photo: Mauricio Paiz)

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