Copyright © 2015. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.

Eugenie Bouchard, the 2014 finalist, has withdrawn before her opening match at the WTA Wuhan Open, citing the concussion she suffered earlier this month in a fall in the US Open locker room. The Wimbledon finalist from last season whose 2015 has been a long downhill slide, pulled the plug on her participation three weeks after slipping and hitting her head in a darkened US Open training room as she walked on a wet floor.

The accident forced the Canadian to forfeit a semi-final against eventual New York finalist Roberta Vinci.

Bouchard was to have played Swiss prodigy Belinda Bencic in the Wuhan first round; Bencic, losing finalist at the weekend to Agnieszka Radwanska in Tokyo, will now take on lucky loser Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia.

“I traveled to Wuhan with the intention of playing. Unfortunately, my concussion symptoms came back during practice on Saturday and it would not be safe for me to go on court today,” Bouchard said in a statement. “I will rest in Wuhan for the next few days to determine how I progress, and look forward to coming back here to play in this great city next year.”Katrina Adams (USA), Anil Khanna (IND) and Rene Stammbach (SUI) have today been named as ITF Vice Presidents under new ITF President David Haggerty. The decision was taken on Saturday at the first meeting of the new ITF Board of Directors in Santiago, Chile.

Copyright © 2015. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.