Caroline Garcia cruised to a 6-2 6-3 win over Varvara Lepchenko in the second round of the Volvo Car Open in Charleston.
The Frenchwoman, 24, is the number one seed at the event after her excellent performances in 2017 propelled her into the world’s top ten.
And she started like the favourite as she served superbly and struck her groundstrokes well to win 11 of the first 12 points and go 3-0 up in the blink of an eye.
The rest of the opening set was more competitive after Lepchenko held serve in game four. But it was too late for the American to turn it around and, after three tight games that all went against the server, Garcia clinched it 6-2.
Both players were much more consistent in the second set and the World No.7 led 4-3 after the first seven games went comfortably with serve.
At that point, Garcia stepped up her aggression and hit a series of trademark power shots from the back of the court to break Lepchenko. She then saved two break points as she held to complete a comfortable victory.
“I moved a little bit better than her today and I made fewer mistakes,” Garcia said in her on-court interview. “I saved two break points (in the last game) with good serves.”
She continued, “It was close in a couple of games and I was able to be a bit more aggressive and play some good points in important moments.”
Bouchard’s search for rhythm
In the match that preceded Garcia on Charleston’s main court, Eugenie Bouchard played superbly at times during her 6-4 6-4 loss to Sara Errani.
At one stage in the second set, the Canadian produced sparkling tennis to win three games in a row and recover from 3-1 down.
However, she failed to break after taking the Italian to deuce in game eight and fell apart thereafter as Errani won seven of the last eight points to seal victory.
Despite that late collapse and an inconsistent first set, Bouchard should be encouraged by how she performed. The Canadian can consider herself unlucky that she came up against an inspired Errani, as the Italian produced some top-class clay-court tennis to beat her.
In her press conference, Bouchard reflected on her recent struggles which have caused her ranking to plummet to No.111. The Canadian said she plans to enter smaller tournaments below tour level for a few months after competing in Bogota.
She said, “Sometimes I feel good, and sometimes I have no idea what’s going on. I think the most important thing is just to keep going, and I’ve been feeling good in practice recently, and it’s obviously that elusive thing of bringing the practice to the match.”
“I think just more matches will help me out. It’s tough training for two weeks, playing a match, losing, training for two weeks, playing a match, losing. It’s a tough cycle, because then you just feel more nervous and feel extra pressure for that match, especially when you’re on centre court and it’s a big tournament and maybe you got a wildcard. So I’ve been putting myself in tough situations as well.”
“I want to play some smaller tournaments and just get matches where no-one’s there, no-one cares, and just grind, just to get the rhythm back.”
Barty and Vesnina advance
Elsewhere in Charleston, Ashleigh Barty looked in excellent form as she dispatched young American Sofia Kenin 6-3 6-2 in just 69 minutes in the opening match in the Volvo Car Stadium.
The World No.18 will play Tatjana Maria in round two after the German dismantled Lauren Davis 6-3 6-0.
2016 finalist Elena Vesnina withstood a second-set comeback to overcome Madison Brengle 6-3 2-6 6-2 and set up a second-round clash with Taylor Townsend, who beat a woefully out-of-form Heather Watson 6-3 6-4.
It was also a very unhappy day for 2010 champion Sam Stosur, who was thrashed 6-2 6-4 by World No.109 Kristie Ahn, and Katerina Siniakova, who was hammered 6-4 6-1 by Kristyna Pliskova.
