Canada's Eugenie Bouchard swept into the second round of the Hobart International with a straight sets demolition of American Bethanie Mattek-Sands on Monday.
The former world number 5 now ranked 47 took just 57 minutes to dispose of one-time tournament finalist Mattek-Sands 6-2, 6-1.
Bouchard, 21, who reached the semi-finals of the 2014 Australian and French Opens before playing in the final at Wimbledon in the same year, suffered a big setback at the US Open last September.
She sustained a head injury after slipping in the locker room and was forced to pull out of her fourth-round match at Flushing Meadows with a concussion, which also forced her to withdrew from an event in Wuhan, China later that month.
“I was feeling pretty solid out there,” Bouchard said after her latest win.
“The foundation of my game is to be really aggressive, but I also want to have that balance with consistency and I think I did a good job of that today.”
Bouchard lost just 14 points on serve in her first win in three attempts against the more experienced American.
“It was nice to get a win against her finally,” Bouchard said. “She's a great player and I was really aware that when she came to the net she is really solid, so I was just always trying to pass her.”
Bouchard said she was feeling good.
“The most important part right now for sure is feeling healthy and I walked off the court feeling healthy, and that's a very good positive sign,” she said.
The Canadian will next play eighth seed Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium. – AFP