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Beck Eliminates Bouchard From BNP Paribas Open

Mar 10th 2017

In a three-set match on Thursday night, Annika Beck took Genie Bouchard out of the BNP Paribas Open in the first round. The match ran over two hours and held the Indian Wells crowd at the edge of their seats. The Canadian was a clear favorite with the audience, who showed up in significant numbers to support her.

Bouchard convincingly took the first set 6-3. Playing powerful groundstrokes from behind the baseline, she had the German running down every ball. In the second set, Beck flipped that script and won 6-2. Bouchard tried to fight off Beck’s advance anew in the third, but fell to Beck with another 6-2 set.

Eugenie Bouchard

Speaking to media after the match, Bouchard did say she was again training at 100 percent, following abdominal strain that kept her out of competition, but that it takes time for the training to translate into success at match play. She cited Beck’s anticipation of where her shots were going as her biggest weakness, and expressed that she would work on better masking her game.

The final score line, 3-6 6-2 6-2, does not paint a full picture of the match’s intensity. Of the 192 points played, Beck won 101 to Bouchard’s 91. Beck’s first serve percentage was 75 percent to Bouchard’s 49 percent and she won 58 percent of break points, compared to Bouchard’s 36 percent.

Annika Beck will face 28-seed Kristina Mladenovic in the second round.