MELBOURNE, Australia -- Canadian Eugenie Bouchard was eliminated in the third round of the Australian Open on Friday, falling to Coco Vandeweghe 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
The American took the match in two hours 22 minutes and was the first player into the round of 16.
Vandeweghe converted her only break to take the first set but Bouchard, who reached the Australian Open and French Open semifinals and the Wimbledon final in 2014, levelled the match with two breaks in a dominant second set.
The Westmount, Que., native broke Vandeweghe's serve to open the third set and appeared to be in control until the American rallied.
Vandeweghe broke Bouchard to even the score at 4-4 in the third set, helped in the process by Bouchard's fourth double fault. At 5-5, Vandeweghe kept her serve before disposing of the 47th-ranked Bouchard with a decisive break.
Vandeweghe, ranked 35th, held a 40-21 advantage on winners. She also smashed 11 aces to Bouchard's four and took 85 per cent of first serve points.
Vandeweghe has reached the quarter-finals and the fourth round in the last two years at Wimbledon, but her run to the third round in Australia in 2016 was her best at any major not played on grass.
"It's just another opponent on the way to achieving my goal," Vandeweghe said of an intense match against a player who was ranked as high as No. 5 in 2014 but hasn't gone past the third round of a Grand Slam tournament since slipping and falling in the locker-room during the 2015 U.S. Open. "Anyway I could get it done -- I just wanted to get the result. Achieved my goal."
Vandeweghe will next play the winner of Friday's later match between defending champion Angelique Kerber and Kristyna Pliskova, the twin sister of U.S. Open finalist Karolina Pliskova.
-- With files from The Associated Press
