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Elise Mertens let up at times during her opening round match but succeeded in her quest to be victorious at the Rogers Cup in Montreal. She had a tough finish against Canada's Eugenie Bouchard but held on in the late stages of the match to win 6-2, 6-4 on Centre Court at IGA Stadium.
The Canadian returned home to prepare for her week to impress her most devoted fans. Despite coming so close to a title in Gstaad, the 24-year-old had a lot of positivity built up but would be climbing uphill right from the start. It was her third time facing the Belgian who defeated her swiftly each time. Bouchard hasn’t recorded a hard court match just yet with Mertens going deep in San Jose. With three matches under her belt in the US Open Series, the world number 15 vied her chance to go for three wins straight and end the Canadian where she stood.
Bouchard came out struggling on her opening service game scoring a double fault that let Mertens run through it for the win. She delivered a big response on her own serve before making it a 3-0 leading having no sympathies for the competition. She blasted away big shots that saw Bouchard running all over the place for the returns. Though she managed to get to deuce with the Belgian, Mertens found a way to win after a few breaks that made it 4-0 for the world number 14.
Bouchard didn’t want to give up in front of her home crowd where she again forced Mertens to deuce on her service. Her downfall came when the experienced Belgian kept the pressure near the net where she made the return on the ball taking the Canadian out of focus just enough to give Mertens a third straight break.
Avoiding the bagel was what everyone but Mertens wanted from Bouchard. She tried doing so six times in the sixth where a return shot from the Belgian fell wide of the line. With a game under her belt, the 24-year-old had gained enough confidence that allowed her to hold for the first time on court earning cheers from the crowd.
Just when it looked like a third straight would come to Bouchard, Mertens ended the hopes of the Canadian contingency winning her serve for the set with a victory in 41 minutes. Bouchard made 20 unforced errors and failed on 9 of 10 break point chances. Mertens' game was better despite having twice as many double faults but wanted to get the actual victory over someone who can jump out at times if given the room to do so.
She did so to start the second set winning the first two games with an important break coming against Merten's service game. She made it 3-0 that energized herself and the crowd hoping to conduct the set from start to finish. As the fourth got into play Bouchard made an unusual call for the trainer during points suffering a blister on her foot. It allowed the Belgian to call down her coach who told her what to adjust on defence and to serve to the body of Bouchard going forward.
After the medical timeout was concluded, Bouchard continued to face the serve of Mertens who closed out the win allowing the Canadian very little in the fourth game. She won the game and added one after another showing her strengths while beating down the 24-year-old. With the fans slowly out of it, the Belgian achieved the lead in the seventh breaking Bouchard down more. Mertens made it four straight with another hold of serve in the eighth that put the Canadian on the edge of defeat. Bouchard had the service in her hands trying desperately to contain service while Mertens was knocking on the door of the second round. She held her off for yet another game to put herself down a game of levelling the set to move on.
Mertens wasn’t going to have that happen on her watch as she rallied on serve to lay down three straight points to serve one final shutout in the tenth bringing an end to Bouchard's singles play in 1 hour and 34 minutes. With the late scare taken care of, the Belgian could return to focusing on new opponents like Shuai Zhang or Barbora Krejcikova who would face Mertens in the second round.
