Bouchard and Kerber Bounced Early at Diamond Games

Eugenie Bouchard followed up her solid run to the Australian Open quarterfinals last month by losing in her first match since Melbourne, falling to Mona Barthel of Germany in the BNP Paribas Fortis Diamond Games in Antwerp, Belgium. Barthel took advantage of nine Bouchard double-faults to come from a set down and win 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 on Thursday.

“It’s always tough to play against Genie. She plays so well, you really have to play your best,” said Barthel after the match. “But today I was able to play my game, play aggressive and come into the net. At the end I had some nerves, but I’m happy I could play well to finish it. It’s a great win for me.”

After dropping the first set, Barthel took it to the top-seeded Canadian. She raced out to a 5-0 lead in the second set as Bouchard’s errors continued to pile up. Barthel eventually captured the set 6-1, and the third set had the same theme as the second, and saw Barthel close it out 6-2.

The 24-year-old Barthel moves into the quarterfinals and will play Russian Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova, who ousted the seventh-seeded Alize Cornet 6-4, 6-2.

The second-seed of the tournament fared the same fate as the top seed as Angelique Kerber was also eliminated on Thursday.

Francesca Schiavone, the 2010 French Open champion, needed less than an hour to steamroll Kerber 6-1, 6-1 and move into the quarterfinals.

“For me it was a great match because I was able to play the tactics I wanted to play,” said Schiavone. “I knew it would be a good opportunity for me today, and I’m happy with the way I played.”

Schiavone rattled off nine straight games at one point to take the match from 1-1 in the first set to 6-1, 4-0 in the second. She will play fifth-seeded Spaniard Carla Suarez-Navarro in the quarters.

All the other seeded players were able to advance into the final eight in Antwerp on Thursday.

Fourth-seeded Lucie Safarova rolled past France’s Kristina Mladenovic 6-4, 6-1 to set up a matchup with eighth-seeded Karolina Pliskova. The other quarterfinal matchup will feature sixth-seeded Dominika Cibulkova take on third-seeded Andrea Petkovic.