American Rogers Stuns Canadian Bouchard in Montreal

American Shelby Rogers shocked everyone at the Rogers Cup on Tuesday night, upending eighth-ranked Canadian Eugenie Bouchard in front of her home fans, 6-0, 2-6, 6-0 to notch her first ever top 10 win and move into the third-round in Montreal.

In a match that seemed to sway dramatically with each set, Rogers came out firing early. She was the aggressor and played with more of a bounce in her step, utilizing excellent ground strokes to smash seven winners as she rolled in the first set 6-0.

Bouchard would bounce back in the second set and seemed to steal momentum back from the 21-year old qualifier. She held serve throughout, and notched a key break point which allowed her to roll to the second-set victory 6-2, sending the contest into a deciding third.

It looked as if Bouchard would take over and complete the comeback, but Rogers came out firing. She did not lose a game and was just the more efficient and solid player, rolling to another 6-0 set victory to stun Bouchard and everyone in the arena.

“This was my first experience in an atmosphere like this—the whole stadium cheering for one person,” said Rogers. “I really respect what she’s done. It’s incredible to see how much support she has. But I was just trying to stay in my little zone, zone it out.”

Rogers, who really emerged as a young talent when she went all the way to the title match in Bad Gastein, now draws a potential matchup with former world number one Caroline Wozniacki. The Dane will play Czech Klara Koukalova in a second-round bout on Wednesday.

As for Bouchard, the loss came in her first match since she lost in the Wimbledon final to Petra Kvitova. She made no excuses for her rusty play and gave credit to Rogers.

“She was solid the whole match—she never really sprayed too many balls, and she was always there,” said a complimentary Bouchard. “Whenever I let up a little bit, which I think I did in the third, she was all over it. She definitely took the match.”

Former world number ones Wozniacki and Ana Ivanovic won their respective first-round matches on Tuesday as the tournament’s opening round came to a close. The only other second-round matches from Montreal saw third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska knock off Barbora Zahlavova Strycova and eight-seeded Victoria Azarenka slip past Alize Cornet.