Eugenie Bouchard Out of Italian Open in Rome in First Qualifying Round

| by Kadir Macar

Eugenie Bouchard lost in the first qualifying round of the 2023 Italian Open in Rome, also called the Rome Masters.

In recent weeks, the 29-year-old showed some promising form, winning a match in Bogota and Oeiras, before flying into the qualifying of the Madrid Open. Bouchard succeeded in the Spanish capital and fought her way into the main draw.

She then also won in the first round of the tournament against Dayana Yastremska, a win that was overshadowed by a comment which called her opponent and Maria Sharapova dopers. In her second-round match, the Canadian lost to Martina Trevisan in two sets and she set her sight on the WTA 1000 event in the Italian capital.

Once again, Bouchard had to fight in the qualifying in Rome and she took on quite a challenging opponent, facing off against the seventh-seeded Dalma Galfi from Hungary, ranked 91st in the world. The two met last year in Ostrava and back then it was a victorious meeting for the former world no. 5.

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But this time the conditions were different as they met on the clay courts of Foro Italico and it seemed that the Hungarian player liked the clay courts in Rome better. The first set was a real fight and both players had their chances, but after trading breaks, it had to be decided in a tie-break.

Eventually, only one mini-break decided the first set, with Galfi pushing through and winning the tie-break 7-4 against her more experienced opponent. Although Bouchard wasn't ready to give up, she couldn't use her one break point in the longest game of the match and she wouldn't get another chance to break her opponent.

On the other hand, Galfi used her only chance in the eighth game of the second set and after confirming with a hold, she won the match 7-6(4), 6-3 to advance to the final of the qualifying at the 2023 Italian Open in Rome.

It is another unexpected loss for Bouchard on her journey to the top, but as she noted, she's restarting at zero and losses like this are party of it. Now, the Canadian will want to focus on the upcoming Roland Garros.

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