Canada's Eugenie Bouchard defeated American Sloane Stephens 6-3, 6-3 in the first round of the Olympic women's singles tennis tournament Saturday.
The Montreal native looked focused in her convincing victory, making few errors and converting on second-serve and break-point opportunities.
Bouchard, 22, was making her Olympic debut in a season in which she holds a record of 26-17 in singles matches. She was assertive early in the match, dictating play while building up 3-0 and 4-1 leads in the first set, which she won in 32 minutes.
Stephens, meanwhile, had difficulty finding a rhythm and seemed to struggle in keeping up with Bouchard's pace. The American committed five unforced errors and was unable to break Bouchard's serve.
Building confidence
In the midst of an up-and-down season for Bouchard — one in which she lost in the third round of the Rogers Cup — the Canadian performed strongly, committing only two unforced errors. Her 67 per cent conversion rate on second serves was in stark contrast to Stephens's 42 per cent.
Stephens had clear difficulty in getting her feet set on baseline shots, leading to several of her errors.
Bouchard and Stephens have known each other since the Canadian was just 12 years old. The two once shared a coach in Nick Saviano who is not in Rio for the Games.
The Canadian will next face either second-ranked Angelique Kerber of Germany or Colombia's Mariana Duque-Marino. Kerber and Duque-Marino are set to play on Sunday in their first-round matchup.
Vancouver's Vasek Pospisil faced France's Gael Monfils in men's singles action later Saturday.
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