The good news is that Eugenie Bouchard has become the highest-ranked Canadian tennis player of all time, as she has earned the fifth spot, one higher than Milos Ranos' best career world ranking.
The bad news is that she did not last long in the WTA Finals.
Romania's Simona Halep comfortably defeated Canada's Eugenie Bouchard 6-2, 6-3 on Monday's opening night of the WTA Finals.
In a clash of the only two players making their first appearance at the season-ending championships, Halep lost only four points when getting her first serve into play.
Bouchard, from Westmount, Que., was well below her best, racking up 30 unforced errors against 11 from Halep.
Bouchard is only the third Canadian player to take part WTA Finals, which invites the eight players of the year. Carling Bassett-Seguso and Helen Kelesi were the others.
Bouchard started the year ranked 32 but reached the semifinals in Australia and Paris and the finals at Wimbledon.
Serena Williams won her opening match earlier on Monday, beating Ana Ivanovic 6-4, 6-4 in the other Red Group match, for her 16th consecutive victory at the finals.
Williams came into the finals after injuries forced her out of her previous two outings and following Russian official Shamil Tarpischev's disparaging comments about her and sister Venus.
The top-ranked Williams was shaky in her opening service game, saving two break points, but still took a 4-1 lead. Ivanovic got back on serve but lost the first set when she double-faulted at 15-40 in the final game -- one of her seven double-faults.
- With a file from The Associated Press
