Shades of 2015 as Eugenie Bouchard goes out in Qatar with a (racquet) bang

Genie Bouchard’s 2016 road back to tennis prominence has been paved with good intentions. But she hit a major speed bump Wednesday in Doha.

The Montrealer, who turns 22 Thursday, was up against three opponents: the gusty wind, her own demons, and opponent Saisai Zheng of China. The three combined to concoct a 7-6 (1), 6-1 defeat that turned ugly in the second set.

There were flashes of 2015 in Bouchard’s countenance: the impatience, the petulance, the racquet abuse. In the end, she just didn’t have the fight to try to come back against an opponent playing calm, percentage tennis on a day when conditions were difficult.

They were difficult for both, though.

“We all know Bouchard's game is built on aggression, but in those windy conditions she needed some more compromise. Instead I thought she let the conditions get inside her head, really from once she missed set point towards the end of the first set,” he added.

Broken in her opening service game, Bouchard came back to lead 5-3 in the first set. Serving for it at 30-0, she airmailed a wild forehand, resulting in what long-time Bouchard observers call the “what the heck am I supposed to do?” gesture towards her support team.

The Babolat racquet took its first hits; Bouchard smacked it down hard enough that it cracked – a rare miscalculation. She had to go get a new one, earning a code violation warning from chair umpire Felix Torralba.

Her serve broken, she called upon coach Thomas Hogstedt for a little advice.

The prevailing theme of her input: “What am I supposed to do?”

Bouchard noted, correctly, that Zheng was getting every ball back. The Canadian seemed at a loss to know what to do in some of the rallies, and she clearly didn’t arrive on court armed with a sufficient dose of patience on a day that was going to be a grind from the outset.

Hogstedt pointed out that she was still up 5-4, and Bouchard returned to court and earned a set point. At the end of a bruising 34-shot rally, she dumped a forehand into the net. Two Bouchard errors later, Zheng held and Bouchard fired a ball … somewhere, headed towards the stands.

The tiebreak was a disaster, ending with another Bouchard shot into the stands. She was probably lucky, at that point, that Torralba was indulging her and didn’t assess a point penalty.

The second set was a giveaway. Bouchard barely moved for some balls. She often didn’t even wait for the ball kids to clear missed first serves. Most often, she just strolled around at the back of the court, looking peeved, her jaw set, her gaze bouncing all over the place.

At one point in the set, she even looked over to Hogstedt and said, “What’s the point?”

None of the media in Doha requested Bouchard for a an interview, so no post-match thoughts available.

Just three weeks older than Bouchard, Zheng had previously routinely lost to her twice. The first time came in 2011 when 16-year-old Bouchard headed to a small tournament in Burnie, Australia after the Australian Open junior event, and won the title over Zheng in the final. Bouchard easily won their second meeting as well, in the qualifying at the Beijing tournament in 2013.

The two have nearly identical won-loss records on the WTA Tour; but it’s all about when you win them, and where; Zheng’s career best, reached last May, is only No. 61.

But in the end, she did exactly what she had to do, building upon momentum created by her upset win over rather disinterested No. 1 seed Angelique Kerber in the previous round.

Zheng served a high percentage of first balls – 82 per cent in the first set. She kept the ball mainly, safely down the middle of the court, and mixed up those deliveries between heavy forehands, deep slices and the occasional moonbeam.

Once she had Bouchard on the run from side to side, or whenever she was in a good position to strike, she aimed for the corners. It was solid, if unspectacular. And on a tough day, against an impatient opponent, it was the perfect play.

The slice was particularly effective; Bouchard made numerous unforced errors trying to deal with it. And Zheng never looked rushed; generally, she looked as though she had an eternity to hit every ball, and always seemed to head to the right part of the court to field the next one.

Meanwhile, on the adjacent court, Bouchard’s countrywoman Gabriela Dabrowski pulled off a solid win in doubles. The Gloucester, Ont. native and new partner Maria José Martínez Sánchez of Spain upset the No. 7 seeds, Raquel Otawo and Abigail Spears of the U.S., 7-6, (4), 6-1 to make the quarterfinals.

Not too far away in Dubai, Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil lost his second-round singles match 6-4, 6-2 to Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus. Already eliminated in doubles, he will head to Guadeloupe to begin a transition to the red clay for Canada’s Davis Cup tie against France next week.

Pospisil’s teammate Daniel Nestor and partner Radek Stepanek moved on, upsetting No. 2 seeds Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea 3-6, 7-6 (6), 10-4. So his journey will have to wait.

Bouchard’s next scheduled tournament stop is a small WTA event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia next week.