Connecticut Open: Petra Kvitova loses to Shuai Zhang in 1st round; Eugenie Bouchard breezes past Lauren Davis

New Haven: Petra Kvitova’s final tuneup for the US Open ended with a 6-2, 6-1 loss to Shuai Zhang of China in the first round of the Connecticut Open on Monday night. Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion and a three-time champion in New Haven, is just 4-4 on hard courts this season. The Czech player returned to the tour at the French Open in May after she was stabbed during a home invasion in December, leaving her dominant left hand seriously injured. [caption id=“attachment_3959947” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Petra Kvitova during the first round match against Anett Kontaveit. AP[/caption] Zhang, ranked 29th, was playing her first match in the United States since April. “I just arrived in New Haven last night, coming straight from China,” she said. “It’s a big change. It’s 12 hours’ time difference. Before the match I was still sleeping.” Earlier on Monday, Canadian Eugenie Bouchard breezed past higher-ranked American Lauren Davis 6-3, 6-1. Bouchard, a wild-card entry, next faces top-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska. Bouchard, who reached a career-best No 5 in the rankings in 2014, has struggled recently, slipping to 74th. In other matches, Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium beat Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-2, 6-3, and Romania’s Ana Bogdan got past Russia’s Elena Vesnina, 7-5, 7-5. The US Open begins on 28 August.