Eugenie Bouchard showed glimpses of the form that took her to world No.5 in her first-round victory over Zhang Shuai.
Bouchard, who cracked the top five back in 2014, posted a 7-6(1) 6-2 victory over the Chinese No.1 to advance to the second round in Sydney for the first time.
There she will face either No.3 seed Dominika Cibulkova or Germany’s Laura Siegemund.
The Canadian has endured a tough six months; since reaching the third round on home soil in Montreal, Bouchard has failed to advanced beyond the second round at any tournament.
She opened her 2017 season with a first-round loss to Shelby Rogers in Brisbane.
“I knew that (it’s been a lean run lately). It’s always tough getting through a first round, getting through a match in the first couple of weeks of the year,” Bouchard said.
“I definitely feel rusty – even today on big points some shot I missed that normally I’d expect I wouldn’t. Little things like that.
“But I’m really happy I was able to regain my focus in the tiebreak. That was really important to kind of dominate in that tiebreak and continue to do that in the second set.”
Bouchard would have been unhappy to find herself locked in a tiebreak after racing to a 5-2 lead in the first set and blowing three set points in the 12th game.
Yet once she got through that, she breezed through the second set against Zhang – a player currently ranked 23 places above her – by utilising her weapons, namely aggressive court positioning and a ceaseless desire to take the ball hard and early.
“I’m happy I get another match to keep improving and get more match play,” she said.
“I haven’t played much since last summer basically. That’s what I felt last week in Brisbane – I just need matches, matches, matches.
“I feel better this week than last week for sure.”
