By Mike McIntyre
For two Canadian players who suffered through agonizingly disappointing seasons of tennis in 2017, The Hopman Cup offered Genie Bouchard and Vasek Pospisil a fun way to kick-off their respective campaigns in 2018. The exhibition tournament has gathered a steady following over the past few years and is a fun, yet still competitive way to get ready for the real action on both the ATP World Tour and WTA Tour. The enjoyment for Bouchard and Pospisil must be evolving into something much less amusing as they struggle to put up points on the board nearing the conclusion of the round robin portion of the event.
The Canucks opened against host-nation Australia where both Bouchard and Pospisil failed to win their singles matches. Bouchard went down at the hands of Daria Gavrilova 6-1, 6-4 and then Thanasi Kokkinakis defeated Pospisil in three sets 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Doubles was the only area where the Canadian pair found some solace with a 4-3, 4-3 win over the same two players who had earlier beaten them.
On a non-playing day Bouchard and Pospisil hit the beach in Perth where they participated in a Baywatch themed photo shoot. It is unfortunate that this has turned out to be the highlight of their time there as they continued to struggle when they returned to the tennis court.
A strong German team swiftly beat them with former World No. 1 Angelique Kerber avenging her loss in Spain last year to Bouchard with a routine 6-1, 6-3 win. The talented Alexander Zverev then took-out Pospisil 6-4, 6-2. The Germans got them in doubles as well, 4-3, 4-3. Ok, fair enough, Genie and Vasek are not on that level and maybe few teams in the event save for the Swiss duo of Federer and Bencic are, but this tournament is not giving fans of the Canadians much reason to get their hopes up early in the season.
Only one round robin match-up remains for Bouchard and Pospisil to try and salvage something from their time in Perth. They face one of the hottest duos in the entire tournament unfortunately against Belgium's David Goffin and Elise Mertens who bring a 4-2 record into their tilt. That contest will be held Friday but barring a 3-0 sweep of their opponents, it seems likely that the Canadian tandem will be eliminated from advancing.
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