Bouchard wins first match in 17 months; advances to second round of US Open qualifying

17-year-olds Linda Noskova and Linda Fruhvirtova also advance to second round of US Open qualifying event

Eugenie Bouchard at the 2018 US Open in New York Image Credit: Zuma/ Panoramic

August 24, 2022

Former world No 5 Eugenie Bouchard won her first match in 17 months as she scored a a straight sets win in the US Open qualifying event.

The 28-year-old Bouchard scored a 6-3, 6-3 win over Japan’s Yuki Naito, ranked No 197 in the world, in the first round of the qualifying event for the final Grand Slam of the season.

This was only Bouchard’s second match since March 2021 as she has been sidelined with a shoulder injury during that period.

On the comeback trail@geniebouchard advances to Round 2 of Qualifying with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Yuki Naito. pic.twitter.com/JQUQrMEZww
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 23, 2022

The Canadian made her comeback at the WTA $125K event in Vancouver last week and lost in the opening round to world No 149 Arianne Hartono

Bouchard is a former Wimbledon finalist and also reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open and Roland-Garros – all of which came in 2014. She has been to the fourth round of the US Open on two occasions – 2014 and 2015.

Up next for Bouchard will be the No 4 seed Linda Novoska, the rising 17-year-old Czech who is already ranked No 87 in the world.

Noskova scored a 6-1, 7-6(2) winner over Poland’s Katarzyna Kawa and was joined in the second round by another 17-year-old, Linda Fruhvritova, of the Czech Republic, who upset 29th seed Ylena In-Albon of Switzerland, 6-3, 6-3. Players need to win three matches in the qualifying draw to secure a main draw berth.

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