Eugenie Bouchard soaked in every moment of her first singles win in nearly two years on Monday at the 2025 National Bank Open in Montreal, also her farewell tournament as a professional tennis player.
The Canadian tennis star, who received a wildcard into the main draw, battled past Emiliana Arango in a three-set contest, marking a triumphant return after a 22-month drought.
Eugenie Bouchard Opens Up About the Emotions Behind Her Win
Bouchard, once ranked as high as World No. 5 and a Wimbledon finalist in 2014, had earlier announced that this year’s edition of her hometown tournament would be her final appearance on tour.
Despite a string of early exits in doubles and singles at smaller events this month, the 31-year-old arrived in Montreal to compete one last time in front of home fans.
The crowd at @OBNmontreal was loving Eugenie Bouchard’s win. 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/KiEljfUQCI
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) July 29, 2025
Following her 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 win over Colombia’s Emiliana Arango in the opening round, Bouchard spoke in her post-match press conference about the emotions and uncertainty leading into the match. “I didn’t know what to expect,” she said. “I woke up this morning just telling myself, ‘Look, I can’t control the result. I just want to have a good attitude, have good fight, and try to feel good with my shots, feel good with my game.’”
She added that her main goal was to walk off the court knowing she had left it all out there. “No matter what happens, I wanted to walk off the court having enjoyed that kind of gritty battle, and it definitely turned into one of those battles. I enjoyed every second of it. I guess not really what I expected. I didn’t know what to expect, but a happy result.”
The victory marks Bouchard’s first win in a WTA singles main draw since her opening-round triumph over Renata Zarazua at the 2023 Guadalajara Open in Mexico. After that, she fell in the second round to Veronika Kudermetova and gradually stepped away from competitive play.
Her last attempt at the National Bank Open in 2024 ended in a qualifying round exit. In July 2025, she began a brief comeback, competing as a wildcard at the Hall of Fame Open in Newport (a WTA 125-level event). She lost in the first round of singles but reached the doubles quarterfinals alongside Olivia Lincer before falling to the American duo Makenna Jones and Anna Sinclair Rogers.
She also featured at the Mubadala Citi DC Open, partnering with Clervie Ngounoue in doubles, only to fall in the opening round to the veteran Venus Williams and Hailey Baptiste.
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Bouchard faces a much more formidable challenge in the second round against 17th seed Belinda Bencic. This will be their fourth meeting on the WTA Tour, with the Swiss holding a dominant 3-0 head-to-head record against the Canadian.
The winner of this match will face either Croatian qualifier Antonia Ružić or 11th seed Karolína Muchová in the third round.
