Eugenie Bouchard's first match under new coach Sam Sumyk is a dispiriting loss to Mona Barthel in Antwerp

In the end, maybe Antwerp was all a little too much for Genie Bouchard.

Just a quick get-acquainted few days with new coach Sam Sumyk in Montreal, and off to a tournament right away in Europe amid all the talk and criticism about her decision to skip Fed Cup last weekend in Quebec City.

Six days idle, save for practice sessions, in a new city before the 20-year-old Canadian finally took the court Thursday night for her first match of the tournament – the first under Sumyk's coaching microscope.

On top of that, it was first time Bouchard had been the headliner at such a big tournament.

Add that to a very talented, if up-and-down opponent in Mona Barthel who was all up on Thursday, and Bouchard's on-court stay in Antwerp lasted barely an hour and a half in a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 defeat.

After leading 3-0 with two breaks of serve  in the first set, Bouchard won just four of the remaining 18 games in the match.

For Bouchard, nothing was working pretty well at all.  Her serve looked a whole lot like it did in the second half of last season, after some encouraging signs down at the Australian Open. Nine double-faults, and perhaps double that many shaky seconds serves that Barthel swatted for winners or near-winners.

The Canadian sprayed errors all over the place as well, even on returns of serve, as she tried to make things happen and get control of the points.

But she couldn't. And in these still-early stages of her career, she rarely wins if she's not dictating.

While her opponent was willing and eager to finish points at the net, coming up with some nifty half-volleys at times, Bouchard didn't. It seems a long time ago, doesn't it, that the Canadian willingly came forward, whether to hit swing volleys or conventional volleys.

These days, when she does move up, it's rarely of her own volition and she rarely gets past the service line. It's a part of Bouchard's game that shone a couple of years ago, perhaps under the influence of former coach Nathalie Tauziat. But it's an area that has regressed quite a bit.

If you want to find a silver lining, it was probably good for Sumyk to see this from the get-go, as he formulates a plan for where he will try to take Bouchard's game.

The other element to this, and it's not an insignificant one, was Bouchard's headliner status in Antwerp.

The 20-year-old had been the top gun in a couple of tournaments a year ago, smaller clay-court events in Portugal and Germany. But she hadn't yet posted her French Open and Wimbledon results. She wasn't yet a top-10 player. And there wasn't nearly the same type of pressure on her, both self-imposed and external.

Bouchard had been scheduled to play tournaments in Washington, D.C. and Hong Kong through the summer and fall, where she would have been the star attraction. But she pulled out of those. At an October tournament in Linz, Austria, Bouchard was one of the stars, along with Ana Ivanovic.

Not quite healthy and saving it for the upcoming WTA Finals in Singapore, she showed up basically to avoid the fine, winning a match then withdrawing.

Originally, Bouchard hadn't even been entered in Antwerp; indeed, she hadn't entered any of the bigger tournaments – Antwerp, Doha and Dubai – in a rather empty February schedule.

So this was all new – in the first edition of an event that was a staple some years ago, but was being held for the first time since 2008 under the directorship of Kim Clijsters.

Former Belgian tennis player turned writer Filip Dewulf had thoughts:

Add to that the fact that Barthel, who has fluid strokes, the under-exploited makings of a terrific serve, good hands from everywhere around the court and silky movement when she's anticipating properly, was playing well.

She never looked rushed. And Bouchard looked constantly rushed.

The contrast between the two couldn't be greater.

Bouchard is the Nike-attired, perfectly blonde, well-sponsored marketer's dream. Barthel is a shy German, overshadowed by several countrywoman far flashier than she. Most of the time the last few years, she hasn't even had a travelling coach. She has mostly worn whatever random clothes she could find although lately she has been wearing outfits designed by Miami-based Denise Cronwall, popular with the country-club set. But it's highly unlikely she's getting paid to wear them.

What Barthel has, though, is game. She hasn't risen in the rankings to the level that game would dictate. But she brought it on Thursday. And Bouchard had no answers.

The Canadian has asked for a wild card into the Dubai event next week. No official word on whether she received one, but it would be shocking if she didn't – especially because of the lack of home-country players there. The tournament plans to announce the wild cards when the draw is made Saturday.