Flashback

Belinda Bencic had just lost the second set after being up 5-3 and having a match point. Over the course of the last four games, she had begun to miss shots she normally doesn’t miss, and she had watched as her opponent, Eugenie Bouchard, had begun to make shots she hasn’t made all year. Bencic had bounced her racquet and rolled her eyes and pleaded with her father as the Toronto crowd stood and cheered for her Canadian opponent.

Now Bencic sat on the sideline between sets and nodded her head in rhythm to the music coming through the loudspeakers. She took a look at what was happening on the big screen at the end of the court and smiled. She didn’t appear to be someone who had just blown a match point; the last 15 minutes seemed to have been forgotten completely. Was this just the normal reaction, and mood swing, of an 18-year-old to a loud dance song? Possibly. But it also looked like she just wasn’t all that worried about losing this match.

That was still true two games later, when Bencic was down 0-1 and 0-30 on her serve. That’s when, finally, she seemed to decide that things had gone far enough. On the next point, she reared back and hit one of her biggest serves of the night, and followed it with an emphatic swing volley winner. The spell was broken. Bencic would lose just one more game, and silence the audience, in recording a 6-0, 5-7, 6-2 win. By the end, the result never seemed to have been in doubt.

“It was a really big fight,” Bencic said afterward. “It’s not like I really choked or something. She played really well in that moment.”

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Is it possible to say that a 21-year-old had been in “vintage” or “classic” form? Those were the words that came to mind as Bouchard bent low and fired bullet winners from both wings for five games at the end of the second set. She had, for the first time, taken control of the rallies, and she had brought the audience to its feet when she chased down a drop shot and flipped a seemingly impossible forehand winner past her opponent at the net. Bencic was so flabbergasted by the shot that she jumped in the air and threw her hands up to her face. Yes, all of us finally remembered, this was the same Genie Bouchard who had reached the Wimbledon final last year.

“I was able to raise my game, and I think it was pretty competitive out there after the first set,” Bouchard said. “I was fighting on every single point up until the end, and at the end of the day that’s all I can ask for.”

What a difference a year makes. In 2014, Bouchard arrived for the Rogers Cup as a budding superstar; she was ranked No. 6 and had just made deep runs at the French Open and Wimbledon. This year she arrived back home ranked No. 25, having failed to reach a quarterfinal at any event since January. In the last month, she has recovered from an abdominal tear and split with the coach who had essentially overseen her demise this season, Sam Sumyk.

“It definitely wasn’t working,” Bouchard said of their relationship yesterday. “I just felt like I had to make a change. I think that was necessary for me.”

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Sumyk, a Frenchman who was Victoria Azarenka’s mentor until this year, brings a philosophy of life to his coaching that goes beyond the court. Perhaps Bouchard, who is working with Marko Dragic this week, can simplify her game and her goals and go back to whatever basic formula got her to where she was last year. The upside, as we saw for a brief flash on Tuesday, is still there, buried under many months’ worth of doubt and rust. In 2014, Bouchard's early loss in Montreal was a sign of bad things to come; maybe this early loss in Toronto is a sign of better things in her future.

“I feel like I handed myself really well tonight,” Bouchard said. “And you know, better than I did last year coming into that Montreal tournament. So I’m proud of that.”

Yet despite the positives, Bouchard also to deal with the fact that she lost, pretty decisively in the end, to an 18-year-old who has, for the time being, moved ahead of her in the pecking order. There was a reason why Bencic didn't look all that worried about having lost the second set. She was the steadier player, and while she can let her emotions get the best of her at times, she used them judiciously and positively last night. That's something Bouchard, who held her emotions in check as usual, could have done better. The Canadian crowd was there to be played, but Genie never gave them a glance.

Emotionally and technically, Bencic vs. Bouchard was an interesting non-contrast in styles. Both take the ball early, hit penetrating shots from each side, change the direction of the ball often, and do their best to force the issue from the baseline. But while Bouchard is the bigger hitter—she finished with 13 more winners and 14 more errors than her opponent—it’s Bencic who is the most natural all-around player. The Swiss never appears rushed or out of position. Rather than slug the ball with risky pace, she robs her opponent of time by moving forward and hitting it from inside the baseline. She also doesn’t have a liability as big as Bouchard’s erratic forehand was last night.

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Time passes quickly in pro tennis. In the nine months that Bouchard has struggled, Bencic, who is now ranked No. 20 and who won her first title in Eastbourne this summer, has established herself as a solid pro for the moment, and a possible Grand Slam winner in the future. That’s what we were saying about Bouchard at the start of 2014. At least last night, for the space of five games, we remembered why.