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 The 20-year-old Bouchard, playing for the first time since losing
in the Wimbledon final to Petra Kvitova last month, faltered badly
in front of her native Montreal crowd.
Her 6-0 2-6 6-0 loss came after the event suffered a seven-hour
power outage that shut down scoreboards and umpires' microphones.
"I was feeling the pressure on the court and I was feeling kind of
match rusty," Bouchard told reporters. "But I knew this coming into
the match, so I can't use that as excuses. I knew it would be kind
of a difficult situation."
Bouchard suffered her own issues from the outset as she struggled
with her serve and failed to claim a game in the opener.
She rebounded to dominate the second set but fell away badly in the
decider, ending home fans' hopes of an anticipated quarter-final
showdown against top-ranked Serena Williams.
The in-form Bouchard is the only player to have reached the
semi-finals of the first three grand slams of the season while
defending champion Serena has won this tournament three times.
Serena had the day off but her older sister Venus fought her way to
a three-set victory against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1 3-6 6-2
despite the electrical issues.
"It was like going back to the southern California juniors," Venus
told reporters of the power outages.
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"But I tried to think of it as positive. It felt good to win the
match and hopefully gain some momentum."
In other matches, Caroline Wozniacki made easy work of Daniel
Hantuchova in a 6-1 6-1 triumph, while third-seed Agnieszka
Radwanska defeated Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova 6-4 6-4 and ninth-seed
Ana Ivanovic routed Timea Bacsinszky 6-1 6-2.
Spain's 14th seed Carla Suarez-Navarro and 16th-seed Elena Vesnina
also advanced to the second round after respective victories over
Bojana Jovanovski and Camila Giorgi.
(Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing by John O'Brien)
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