Eugenie Bouchard believes Angelique Kerber is not too far from her Grand Slam-winning form the Canadian said following their match at the Hopman Cup in Perth on Wednesday.
Bouchard lost to ex-world No. 1 Kerber 6-1, 6-3 in just under one hour to help Germany complete a 3-0 win over Canada in the mixed team competition.
It was Kerber’s second win in as many singles matches in Perth this week and the German, who has dropped to No. 21 in the rankings after a disappointing 2017 season looks on her way back to her best.
Bouchard, a former top-five player herself, is 4-2 head-to-head against Kerber on the WTA tour but couldn’t find her consistency against her resurgent opponent.
.@geniebouchard and @VasekPospisil hit the beach during their day off ☀️#HopmanCup #justanotherdayinWA pic.twitter.com/hyKvd51pPr
— Hopman Cup (@hopmancup) January 3, 2018
“She’s tough. She’s a great counter-puncher but can also be aggressive and she has a great weapon in her forehand and I saw that a lot today,” said Bouchard, who is currently ranked No. 83 in the world.
“I’ve actually happened to play her a lot. She’s a great player, she’s still what, top-20 right now? It’s such a small difference from there to top-10, top-five. So I’m sure she’ll continue to do great.”
Bouchard, who lost her opener to Daria Gavrilova in Canada’s clash with Australia last Sunday, is not in a hurry to find her rhythm as she looks to rebound back to the top of the women’s game.
“It’ll take as long as it will take. I can’t worry about it. I’m trying to do my best. And however long it will take is what will happen and I’ll have to deal with that. I’m enjoying myself out there and that’s the most important thing,” said the 23-year-old.
Speaking of her match with Kerber, Bouchard added: “It was a bit of the same pattern as the first match. I think I need to like wake up in the first set. It’s because we’re playing tennis too early for me. It was okay.
“I felt I made too many errors here and there. I feel like I was a bit streaky today. In the good moments it was good but in the bad moments weren’t so good so it’s just about trying to be more consistent.”
Meanwhile, Kerber said she was pleased with her aggression on the court and looks comfortable with her new coaching set up having hired Wim Fissette at the end of last season.
“I changed a little bit actually, a few things changed in the last few weeks. First of all I have a new team around me. Just small things, another voice,” said the two-time Grand Slam champion.
“Right now my goal is just looking from day to day, match to match, and just trying to improve my game. Having a good preparation for Melbourne, that’s actually my goal, to have a lot of matches before I go to the Australian Open.”
Kerber’s partner, Alexander Zverev bounced back from his opening defeat to David Goffin by easing past Canada’s Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 6-2 before teaming up with Kerber to get the win in mixed doubles.
“I felt much better on court today in the singles. It was obvious that the first match against Goffin is not going to be easy because he’s somebody that plays pretty much the same all year long. You really have to beat him and obviously the first match of the year that’s not very easy to do. But felt much better today and I’m happy to get the singles and the mixed doubles,” said the world No. 4.
“Hopefully we can continue playing the way we’re playing. Especially Angie, I think she’s playing phenomenal right now. Hopefully we’ll still be here Saturday.”
Germany next take on Australia on Friday which will pit Kerber against Gavrilova and Zverev against Thanasi Kokkinakis, who is looking to put behind him a long battle with injuries and start the season on the right foot.
“He’s a great player,” Zverev said of the 21-year-old Kokkinakis, who is currently ranked 209 in the world.
“He’s had too many injuries, that’s why I think his ranking isn’t where it should be. But he’s going to get up there quite quickly if he stays healthy. He’s playing amazing tennis and hopefully it’s going to be an entertaining one.
“He’s a hard-working guy. I don’t know what he could have achieved but I think he definitely would have been higher than he is right now. I think he would have been top-50 definitely. And anything beyond that you’ve got to look how it goes. You’ve got to have a bit of luck, a lot of determination, even when things go well you still have got to work hard. But time will tell.”
