The 2014 Rogers Cup was rocked by a major upset on Tuesday as hometown hero Genie Bouchard lost her match against American Shelby Rogers in front of a capacity crowd.
Bouchard’s first match after her Wimbledon final was all set up to be a triumphant return as the Montreal-born player played in front of a highly-sympathetic crowd, kicking off what many fans expected to be a serious bid for the 2014 Rogers Cup title.
Expectations were roaring high with Uniprix Stadium being packed with Canadian fans and even her own fan club that performed soccer-style sing-alongs to cheer their favorite player along.
From the very first point, Bouchard seemed overwhelmed by the occasion and the expectations of the spectators though, spraying countless errors and being unable to hold her serve. After losing the first set 0-6, Bouchard regrouped in the second set much to the delight of the crowd, only to receive another bagel in the third set. Final score: 6-0 2-6 6-0.
Bouchard’s early exit wasn’t the only thing that did not quite went to plan at the Rogers Cup on Tuesday as shortly after 2 PM, all electrical power was suddenly out. A massive power outage did not just leave 200.000 Montreal inhabitants out of power, but also slowed down the tournament site to a crawl.
While big screens, speakers, hawekeye and scoreboards are something we have become accustomed to when it comes to WTA tennis, Tuesday proved that none of this is essentially needed for a tennis match. While most of the technological surroundings were unavailable, play continued as scheduled, even though both players and spectators had to make do without the many technological gizmos.
Due to the technical difficulties on site, we unfortunately can’t present you with a full gallery from today’s action, please bear with us as the regular live coverage from the 2014 Rogers Cup will resume on Wednesday.
You should’ve posted some photos from the blackout 😀 I can’t even imagine how it looked in such a big arena without a microphone, scoreboards and other things we take for granted 🙂