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Eugenie Bouchard will meet Kristina Kucova in the Rogers Cup third round, but they have met before

Eugenie Bouchard will meet Kristina Kucova in the Rogers Cup third round, but they have met before

MONTREAL – Tennis players – at least the successful ones – have to have a pretty terrible short-term memory in order to turn the page on tough losses as soon as possible when another tournament looms the following week.

So we'll attribute Genie Bouchard's failure to remember her previous encounter with Slovakia's Kristina Kucova to that, as well as to the fact that she's still feeling under the weather because of the gastric inflammation she suffered Wednesday.

In fact, the two have met before.

The circumstances, to say the least, were pretty unique.

Before Handshake-Gate, the sequel in Montreal against Alexandra Dulgheru and Romania in April, 2015, there was the original, in Quebec City against Slovakia and ... Kristina Kucova a year before that.

It was awkward. Here's how it went down.

That was the only time the two have ever met, so lots of good video available of a match Bouchard won 7-6 (0), 2-6, 6-1.

There was some drama, but Bouchard pulled it out.

Bouchard met Dulgheru again in Charleston this past April, nearly a year after the original incident. And the post-match handshake in a match won by Bouchard couldn't have been warmer.

The two former non-handshake foes had a warm exchange after their first-round match at Charleston last April. (Stephanie Myles/opencourt.ca)
The two former non-handshake foes had a warm exchange after their first-round match at Charleston last April. (Stephanie Myles/opencourt.ca)

No doubt this one will go the same way. Bouchard has come some way since those heady days two years ago, when she was just 20 and it was all happening so fast. (There won't be a handshake before the match, though; that's not done on the regular WTA Tour).

Kucova, who looked to be in trouble last week in Washington D.C. because of an ankle injury, arrived in Montreal and won two impressive matches in qualifying. She back from a set down, twice, in upsetting Yanina Wickmayer in the first round of the main draw, then No. 9 seed Carlá Suárez Navarro of Spain Wednesday.

They will have the second night match Thursday, after the all-American clash between Venus Williams and Madison Keys.