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Oeiras - Canadian Eugenie Bouchard made a winning debut at the ATP-WTA Portugal Open on Tuesday as third seed Samantha Stosur's downward spiral continued with a first-round exit.
The 30-year-old Australian Stosur was beaten in just 72 minutes, going down 6-4, 6-0 to Swiss qualifier Timea Bacsinszky, and will now need to make amends quickly next week in Madrid as the French Open draws nearer.
Stosur was Roland Garros runner-up four years ago and reached a semi-final in 2012, but her best result this season came four months ago when she reached the semi-finals in Hobart.
Second seed Bouchard, who was a semi-finalist at the Australian Open in Melbourne in January, beat Russian Alisa Kleybanova 6-4, 6-1 to reach the second round, winning in 73 minutes.
Bouchard broke five times and made a spectacular recovery on a point in the second set in which she completely lost her footing but managed to win anyway with some luck and a shot hit while sitting down.
"I thought I was out of the point when I fell but she hit right back at me," said the world number 18. "For fun, I hit it back and ended up winning. This has never happened to me in my life."
Bouchard fired four aces and was helped by five double-faults from her opponent, whom she also beat last summer on hardcourt in Toronto.
"For a first match, it felt pretty solid," said the winner. "I concentrated on serving well, and I was happy to be able to do that. I wanted to control the points from my serve. I also tried to take the ball early.
"She has some big shots but I was able to neutralise well today."
Bouchard will next face Kazakh Yaroslava Shvedova for a quarter-final place.
Top seed Carla Suarez Navarro recovered from last week's wrist injury to start with a defeat of Alla Kudryavtseva 6-1, 6-2.
Italian fourth seed Roberta Vinci needed three sets to beat Alexandra Cadantu of Romania, while 2012 champion Kaia Kanepi, the Estonian fifth seed, started with a crushing win over Austrian Yvonne Meusburger 6-2, 6-1.
Russian seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, a 2013 quarter-finalist, and eighth seed Elena Vesnina are also through.
In men's play, Portugal's world number 243 Rui Machado thrashed fifth seed Dmitry Tursunov 6-0, 6-0 with the Russian unable to explain his collapse.
"I felt like a fish on land. I need to think hard about the state of my tennis and make some serious adjustments. I hope no one has to live through a match like that again," he said.
Indian Somdev Devvarman defeated Australian Matthew Ebden in straight sets while there was also a comfortable win for Carlos Berlocq against New York-born Japanese Davis Cup player Taro Daniel.
Two-time champion Albert Montanes won in straight sets against fellow Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena.
Results on the second day of the Portugal Open on Tuesday (x denotes seeded player):
Women
First round
Eugenie Bouchard (CAN x2) bt Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) 6-4, 6-1
Roberta Vinci (ITA x4) bt Alexandra Cadantu (ROM) 6-2, 4-6, 6-1
Kaia Kanepi (EST x5) bt Yvonne Meusburger (AUT) 6-2, 6-1
Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS x7) bt Zhang Shuai (CHN) 6-4, 6-0
Polona Hercog (SLO) bt Stefanie Vgele (SUI) 2-6, 6-2, 6-4
Timea Bacsinszky (SUI) bt Samantha Stosur (AUS x3) 6-4, 6-0
Irina Begu (ROM) bt Kurumi Nara (JPN) 6-1, 7-6 (7/5)
Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor (ESP) bt Peng Shuai (CHN) 6-1, 6-4
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) bt Romina Oprandi (SUI) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4
Elena Vesnina (RUS x8) bt Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) 6-4, 6-1
Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP x1) bt Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) 6-1, 6-2
Men
First round
Somdev Devvarman (IND) bt Matthew Ebden (AUS) 6-2, 6-3
Rui Machado (POR) bt Dmitry Tursunov (RUS x5) 6-0, 6-0
Daniel Gimeno-Traver (ESP) bt Alejandro Gonzlez (COL) 6-4, 6-1
Carlos Berlocq (ARG) bt Taro Daniel (JPN) 6-3, 6-2
Pablo Cuevas (URU) bt Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
Albert Montanes (ESP) bt Roberto Carballes Baena (ESP 7-6 (7/4), 6-3
Victor Hanescu (ROM) bt Radu Albot (MDA) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
Leonardo Mayer (ARG) bt Joao Sousa (POR x6) 3-6, 6-1, 6-2
