‘I felt like the old Genie’: Bouchard extends career with first-round win at NBO

Eugenie Bouchard’s retirement will have to wait.

The former world No. 5 — and first Canadian woman to contest a Grand Slam final in the open era — upset Colombia’s Emiliana Arango 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 in the first round Monday night at the National Bank Open, extending her tennis career for at least one match.

“I told my family that if I won the tournament, I would come out of retirement,” she said from centre court. “I felt like the old Genie out there.”

Bouchard, who also earned her 300th singles win, announced on July 16 that she would hang up her racket at the end of her hometown event.

The 31-year-old from Westmount, Que., rose to prominence with a sensational season in 2014. At only 20, she reached the Wimbledon final, played in the Australian Open and French Open semifinals and won her only WTA title.

Bouchard never returned to that level in a short-lived run among the best in tennis, but for one night at least, she resembled her old self — striking the ball with flair and painting the lines with forehand winners.

“I woke up this morning just telling myself, look I can’t control the result, I just want to have a good attitude, have good fight and try to feel good with my shots, feel good with my game,” she said. “No matter what happens, I wanted to walk off the court having enjoyed that gritty battle.

“I enjoyed every second of it.”

Now ranked 1,062nd, Bouchard has moved away from the pro tennis circuit in recent years, spending more time on the PPA Pickleball Tour, where she ranks 12th in singles.

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Knowing it could be her last dance, fans mostly filled IGA Stadium, welcoming Bouchard with loud applause when she stepped on the court and cheering her on — with mixed chants of “Let’s Go Genie!” and “Allez Eugenie!” — with every point.

Bouchard could feel the crowd’s energy running through her. Sometimes a little too much.

When Bouchard broke the 82nd-ranked Arango twice in the decisive third set — first with a forehand, then from the Colombian’s missed volley — to build a 5-1 lead, she described the feeling as an “out-of-body” experience.

“The crowd was so noisy that I didn’t feel my body for 30 seconds,” she said. “And I lost the game after that. It didn’t help me at the time.”

Arango broke back with Bouchard serving for the match to make it 5-2, but the Canadian went up 40-love in the ensuing game. Arango then sent her forehand wide on Bouchard’s second match point.

The local favourite held her hands above her head in disbelief, blew kisses to the crowd, and later told a shouting fan “I love you, too!”

“It was electric out there,” Bouchard said. “I’m so proud of how I competed and stayed focused throughout the whole match and fought. It was a physical battle, a mental battle, and it just felt amazing to play in Montreal in front of everyone.”

Bouchard will take on 17th seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland in the second round Wednesday night.

She came out with flashes of her attacking style, pushing Arango out of position with a dangerous backhand before hitting a forehand winner to go up 1-0 in the first set.

After holding serve to go up 5-4, Bouchard earned double breakpoint and hit a forehand winner down the line to take the set.

“I know that I have good tennis, but I didn’t know if I could show it today,” she said. “I put effort into practice recently and I really wanted to have a good performance. So I knew I could do that, but it depended on whether I could stay in the game mentally and not be in my emotions or think about all the things that were around this game and around this tournament.

“I’m proud I was able to do that. I still have my focus.”

Bouchard’s momentum didn’t carry into the second set as Arango broke her three times to comfortably force a third. Then she got it back.

Also on Monday, Canada’s Kayla Cross, Ariana Arseneault and Carson Branstine dropped out of the NBO after the first round.

Cross let a one-set lead slip away in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 loss to Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia, and Arseneault of Richmond Hill, Ont., fell 6-4, 6-2 to Japan’s Naomi Osaka.

Branstine, who grew up in California but represents Canada through family ties in Toronto, pushed former world No. 3 Maria Sakkari to three sets, but ultimately dropped the two hour, 23-minute match 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.

Toronto’s Victoria Mboko, Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., and Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino advanced to the second round with wins Sunday.

Andreescu’s status for the remainder of the tournament is unclear after she hurt her left ankle on match point against Czechia’s Barbora Krejcikova.