Roberta Vinci dominated Eugenie Bouchard in New Haven on Monday afternoon, winning 6-1, 6-0 in 61 minutes. The Italian is now through to the second round of the Connecticut Open presented by United Technologies, after winning three rounds of qualifying to qualify for the main draw.
First Game to Bouchard, Next Six to Vinci
To begin the match, Bouchard looked to be ready to build on her first win in a month last week in Cincinnati on the hard courts of Yale University, saving a break point to hold serve. It was clear from the opening stages of this first round encounter that the Italian's backhand slice was going to cause the Canadian lots of problems. This drew error after error from Bouchard as Vinci held for one-all. Vinci managed to win 10 points in a row from that point until the fifth game of the match. This meant she had broken Bouchard's serve but held her own to open up a 3-1 lead.
The 21-year-old Canadian wasn't going to give up though. With some aggressive play, she had given herself two game points to keep the gap between Vinci and herself at only one break of serve. However, the Italian veteran's slice backhand continued to give the 2014 Wimbledon finalist trouble. As a result, Vinci won four points in a row to break Bouchard's serve for the second time in the match. Now up 4-1 and in cruise control of the match, the world number 47 looked more relaxed than her opponent, holding at love once again to open up a sizeable 5-1 lead. Looking discouraged, the Canadian was trying to be more aggressive but the Italian's low backhand slices made it hard for her to hit flat shots. On top of that, Vinci was actually being the more aggressive one, but she played with controlled aggression rather than Bouchard's lights out aggression. At the first time of asking, Roberta took the opening set, 6-1.
Vinci Continues Run of Games, Wins Six More to Win the Match
The second set started off a lot tighter than the first as the first game lasted 11 points. In the end, it was Vinci who was a little more tactically smarter than Bouchard, holding in the opening game. The next game on Genie's serve lasted 13 points. The Canadian number one had to save four break points to stay alive and she ended up saving the first three. Vinci converted the fourth to go up a 2-0 lead thanks to a stunning dig from the Italian number three. In the next game, Bouchard had two break point chances, but once again she was unable to take any of those opportunities as she fell deeper and deeper into a hole she had dug herself. Vinci was like a brick wall, getting everything back and it eventually paid off. She managed to hold to go up 3-0 in the second set. Could the Canadian fight back?
Unfortunately for Bouchard and her fans, the answer was no. It was clear that Genie didn't want to be out there anymore judging by her body language but she was continuing to fight. The problem was, the fight she had put up wasn't enough as Roberta broke her serve again. Now up 4-0, the Italian was only two games away from the win. Continuing to play some great tennis, Vinci had little trouble racing out to a 5-0 lead. Looking dejected, the Canadian number one looked like she had no belief in herself to mount a comeback. On the first match point for Vinci, the Italian hit a drop shot winner that Bouchard didn't even bother to run down. Just like that, Roberta Vinci completed a straight-forward win over Eugenie Bouchard, winning 6-1, 6-0. Vinci will play the winner of the first round match between Caroline Wozniacki and Alison Riske in the second round.