Eugenie Bouchard's season-long struggles with consistency continued Monday at the Rio Olympics.
Second-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany overcame a 4-1, first-set deficit to her Canadian opponent, winning seven straight games en route to a 6-4, 6-2 second-round victory in 81 minutes at Olympic Tennis Centre.
Kerber, 28, had lost the previous three meetings to Bouchard, most recently in the second round of the Italian Open in May. It was the German's second career win in five matches versus Bouchard, both on the hard court, and first since the Round of 64 at the 2013 U.S. Open.
The 22-year-old Bouchard entered Monday's match with confidence, coming off an opening-round victory over American Sloane Stephens and flashing a wide grin prior to warmup that has been seen frequently since the start of Friday's opening ceremony.
Bouchard's chance for gold in Rio isn't done, though, as she and doubles partner Gabriela Dabrowski defeated the Polish duo of Klaudia Jans-Ignacik and Paula Kania 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 in a first-round match on Sunday.
Early in Monday's match, Bouchard was focused, aggressive and struck the ball well while getting Kerber to move side to side. She opened with an early break in the first set but never recovered.
From there, the world No. 2 Kerber picked up her intensity, which Bouchard didn't match, to rebound from a semifinal loss to Simona Halep at the recent Rogers Cup in Montreal.
Trailing 4-1 in the first set, the slow-starting Kerber began moving her feet better and hitting the ball with more purpose. Bouchard, who was once able to come to the net frequently, was kept on the baseline by her opponent and the unforced errors began to mount as she finished with 36 to Kerber's 19.
Bouchard appeared to rush her returns to start the second set but fought back to cut a 2-0 deficit in half. But Kerber responded to the challenge of trailing love-40 in the fourth game to win it before extending her advantage to 5-1.
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