The opening day of main-draw action at the Prague Open was rained off and the only completed singles match is wildcard Eugenie Bouchard‘s emphatic 6-0 6-3 victory over Russian eighth seed Veronika Kudermetova. Three matches from the final round of qualifying also managed to complete, while the rest of the schedule has been postponed because of heavy rain.
The former world No.5 Bouchard, currently ranked 330th, seems to have wisely used her time off, as the Canadian scored her first clay-court victory since 2018 and she did that without dropping serve. Is this just the beginning of a career reset for Bouchard, who has recently started working with coach Rennae Stubbs?
One thing is certain, the 26-year-old Bouchard is happy to get back to work:
I’m so grateful to have a job and have this opportunity. You appreciate things more when they’re taken from you. I didn’t know what to expect in terms of my level. I played better than I expected. I just wanted to be there mentally no matter what.
Marta Kostyuk qualified for the main draw with a double-bagel win over Storm Sanders. Lesia Tsurenko and Mayar Sherif also victoriously completed their matches in the final round of qualifying.
Jimmie48 is taking us to the Prague Open through his extensive photo coverage. In the gallery below you will see photos of all Monday’s action, including the opening ceremony and matches that will continue tomorrow.
In addition, Jimmie48 met with Czech Petra Kvitova, who’s a member of the club there and stopped by just to say hello even though she’s not competing this week. We have one photo of masked-up Dayana Yastremska, who withdrew from the tournament because of dental issues.
MORE PHOTOS FROM THE 2020 PRAGUE OPEN:
Nice to see Canadian Bouchard having a great Prague and playing as much as possible in WTT and the event in Charleston. Contrast her to Andreescu who appears uninterested in playing and is quite happy to not put into danger of losing her number 6 world ranking by playing any type of tournaments. Very bad idea by the WTA to maintain 2019 points for the US Open. Bianca has no interest in playing Cincinnati and I am betting she won’t even bother to show up at the US Open.
It is really a shame she has no interest in keeping her fans up to date on why she is not playing.
Stringer, I suppose she’s just using this situation to completely recover from the injuries she’s been having. It’s her right to use the circumstances in the best possible way for her career and her health. If she decides not to play the US Open, it will be her own decision for her own good. There’s nothing tennis fans or Canada should be angry about.