Eugenie Bouchard was forced to retire from her quarterfinal match at the WTA 125 event in Florence.
The experienced Canadian is trying to make her comeback to the WTA Tour, but things are not going smoothly for her. Bouchard admitted that she's restarting at zero and while the recent weeks looked promising, she may return to the zero once again.
Previously, the 29-year-old successfully qualified for the Madrid Open and even reached the second round. But her performance was overshadowed by the controversial claims, in which she called her opponents dopers.
Then, Bouchard entered the qualifying for the 2023 Italian Open, but she couldn't get past the first round and experienced another disappointing loss. But then, she entered the WTA 125 event in Florence and things were going really well for her.
In the first round, the Canadian defeated home wild card Diletta Cherubini, beating her in two sets 6-4, 6-4. Her journey continued with a second-round win over Kaja Juvan, winning 7-6(6), 6-3 and advancing to the quarterfinals.
A very experienced opponent awaited Bouchard among the last eight as she took on Sara Errani. And even though the Canadian was considered to be a slight favourite thanks to her previous success, the match didn't end in a way that she expected.
The Italian was able to take the first set after multiple breaks from both sides, winning it 6-3. The second set started well for Errani as she held her serve to lead 1-0, but that was the last game of the match as Bouchard elected to retire after it.
Right now, it's not clear why the 2014 Wimbledon finalist made the decision to retire from the match, but it comes as another injury setback on her journey, right ahead of the 2023 Roland Garros, where she certainly wanted to prove her qualities.
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