Eugenie Bouchard struggles, but gets through first round match at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif.

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – It has been a hectic few days for Genie Bouchard.

On Sunday, she played the final at the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur outdoors in hot, humid conditions that only intensified the occasional issues she wrestles with in the wake of the concussion suffered last fall at the US Open.

After a long trip to the California desert, and a day spent doing shoots for her sponsors as she navigated jet lag and sleep deprivation, she walked on the stadium court for her first-round match at the BNP Paribas Open Thursday night a little out of sorts, to say the least.

After a tough start, the 22-year-old finally put things together and defeated Risa Ozaki of Japan, a qualifier who proved to be a surprisingly sturdy opponent. The 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory took nearly two hours, but Bouchard finished strongly and now will face old acquaintance Sloane Stephens of the U.S. in the second round.

Here's what it looked like.

Bouchard had been cheery and seemed relaxed on the practice court the last two days. And after her pre-match warmup late in the afternoon, she stayed and interacted with the large group of fans gathered to watch, signing every big yellow ball and fulfilling every selfie request.

But the Bouchard who showed for her evening match wasn't the same person. The stressed-out body language, the anguished looks and a fairly consistent opponent made for a poor start. For about 45 minutes, there was a very 2015 feel about the match.

Luckily, she found a way to cast off the negativity; a rousing pep talk from coach Thomas Hogstedt after the first set helped.

In the end, Bouchard eked out the second set despite having major trouble consolidating breaks. She would break Ozaki – then get broken right back; there were seven breaks of serve in all in that second set. But she served it out and once that happened, the third set proved a lot more routine.

Here's what Bouchard said afterwards.

Bouchard has had great moments at Indian Wells, and not-so-great ones. In 2014, she reached the fourth round and gave Simona Halep of Romania (who won the whole thing a year later) all she could handle.

Last year, she lost to qualifier Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine in the same round – a dramatic mess of a match in which Bouchard first felt the effects of an abdominal issue that would dog her on and off for most of the season. It was the true beginning of the dramatic fall from the top of the game, a reversal of fortune that she is, step by step, beginning to recover from only now.

As an unseeded player this year, the road is significantly tougher. Getting through the first round means the certainty of meeting one of the 32 seeds in the next round, in this case No. 21 seed Stephens, a player she has known since before she was even a teenager. Stephens is also the player Bouchard's former longtime coach Nick Saviano began working with, after he left Bouchard at the conclusion of that 2014 season.

It didn't escape Bouchard's notice that Stephens has already won two WTA Tour titles this season; Bouchard has made two finals, but was unable to come away with the title on either occasion.

The two have played three times, all on hard courts, with Stephens holding a 2-1 edge. All three were close, but the most recent one came more than 2 1/2 years ago in Beijing.