Genie Bouchard registered wins in singles and mixed doubles to lead her and partner Tommy Haas to victory at the SoCal Honda Dealers Helpful Cup at the Sherwood Country Club, the first new mixed team event on the Champions Series Tennis tour.
The 28-year-old Bouchard, the Wimbledon runner-up in 2014, was competing in her first organized event in a year after undergoing right shoulder surgery, Bouchard surprised 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin 6-1 in singles before pairing with Haas to beat Kenin and Sam Querrey 6-3 in the decisive mixed doubles match.
“I feel like I’ve just been smiling all afternoon, like my cheeks hurt,” said Bouchard. “I’m just so happy to be back out here. It was so fun today.”
Bouchard last competed on the WTA Tour in March of 2021 at the WTA event in Monterrey, Mexico and underwent right shoulder surgery shortly thereafter. Playing with gusty winds and temperatures in the low 50s, Bouchard showed many of the same elements that allowed her to reach a career high ranking of No. 5 in her dominant victory.
“I played better than I expected,” Bouchard said after her win over Kenin. “We had really tough conditions. We’re both very cold out here and it’s hard to serve sometimes with the wind. But I just tried to hit the shots I’ve been doing in practice since I’ve been training for my comeback.”
Bouchard’s singles win came after Querrey defeated Haas 7-5 to give he and partner Kenin the early 1-0 lead.
“Genie carried me today in this new format, which was a lot of fun, I must say,” said Haas. “I tried to gain a point in the singles, came up short against Sam, but then Genie just played lights out today.”
With the victory, Bouchard and Haas split the first prize of $50,000 while Querrey and Kenin split the runner-up payout of $25,000.
Champions Series Tennis will also stage events in 2022 in Dallas, St. Louis, The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, Orlando and other sites to be announced. Full player fields and event dates will be announced in the near future.
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InsideOut Sports + Entertainment is a Los Angeles based producer of proprietary events and promotions founded in 2004 by former world No. 1 and Hall of Fame tennis player Jim Courier and former SFX and Clear Channel executive Jon Venison. In 2005, InsideOut launched its signature property, the Champions Series, a collection of tournaments featuring the greatest names in tennis over the age of 30. In addition, InsideOut produces many other successful events including “Legendary Night” exhibitions, The World Series of Beach Volleyball and numerous corporate outings. Since inception, InsideOut Sports + Entertainment has raised over $5 million for charity. In 2014, InsideOut Sports + Entertainment merged with Horizon Media, the largest privately held media services agency in the world. For more information, please log on to www.InsideOutSE.com or ChampionsSeriesTennis.com or follow on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
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