Former world number five Eugenie Bouchard's 2017 struggles continued Thursday at Indian Wells, where she fell in the first round to Germany's Annika Beck. Beck made the most of Bouchard's errors to dispatch the Canadian 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. Although it was her second first-round exit in as many tournaments since her third-round defeat at the Australian Open, Bouchard said she was encouraged to be playing pain free after battling an abdominal injury after Melbourne.
"I didn't have a good serving day today, but I did have a pain-free serving day today so that was really good," said the 23-year-old, who shot to stardom with her run to the Wimbledon final in 2014. Now that she's able to train at 100 percent, Bouchard said, she hopes she can get her season on track and improve on her current ranking of 53 in the world.
"I feel like it is now at 100 percent for sure, it has for a couple of weeks," she said of her training. "But as soon as you start training 100 percent it doesn't translate automatically. "You still need weeks and weeks of that to feel like normal." Andrea Petkovic booked an all-German clash with second-seeded Angelique Kerber, and she's hoping some inside knowledge will help her get past her Olympic team-mate and friend.
Kerber is the top player in the draw and guaranteed to return to number one on the world thanks to Serena Williams' injury withdrawal. She enjoyed a first-round bye while Petkovic was leading Vania King 6-0, 2-0 when the American retired from their first-round match Thursday with a left ankle injury.