Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard, who lost last summer to Czech Petra Kvitova in the title match, is keen to get her campaign off to a good start after going 2-1 last January in Hopman group matches. (AFP)

DPA/Perth


WTA number seven Eugenie Bouchard will begin her 2015 season tomorrow with a return visit to the Hopman Cup, with the Canadian opening play at the eight-nation mixed team event against Lucie Safarova.
The Canada-Czech Republic clash at the Perth Arena is set to kick-start the competition, with Bouchard hoping to ride her momentum as she did last year into the Australian Open, where she played the semi-finals, losing to eventual champion Li Na.
The first major of the season begins in Melbourne on January 19, with Bouchard using Perth as her only official tune-up for the grand slam where she made the first of her 2014 breakthroughs.
Safarova won their only previous meeting in Quebec City in 2013.
“I had some good preparation matches here in Perth last year,” Bouchard said yesterday at a beachside setting.
“It’s a fun and still intense kind of competitive way to get into things.
“With the court surface being the same; the balls the same; and even the arena is similar to to Rod Laver arena in Melbourne - it prepares you well. It’s one of the reasons I came back.”
Wimbledon finalist Bouchard - who lost last summer on grass to Czech Petra Kvitova in the title match - is keen to get her campaign off to a good start after going 2-1 last January in Hopman group matches.  She is playing the event alongside countryman Vasek Pospisil, winner of the Wimbledon doubles title six months ago.
“I don’t know if I expected it (two grand slam semis and a final last season) so quickly or so close together,” confessed Bouchard, who is still without a coach after parting in the close season with Florida-based Nick Saviano.
“I’ve always believed in myself, I knew I could achieve things like that - I want to achieve even more, I want to win a grand slam.”
The 20-year-old added: “I’m was definitely proud of myself for how I improved so quickly.”
But 2014 is all in the past for one of the most popular of the new breed of next-generation WTA players.
“I’m not going to even think about last year. To me it’s 2015, we’re starting at a new place’. What I did last year doesn’t mean anything,” she said.
“I still have to go and play my first round at the Australian Open and fight as hard as I can and try to play as well as I can. I’m going to use last year’s experiences, but I’m not going to worry about what I did last year and trying to defend.
“It’s really not the kind of mentality I want.”
The day’s second tie will feature host Australia (Casey Dellacqua and Matt Ebden) facing Poland,
Andy Murray and Heather Watson have teamed up for Britain, with the world number six Scot not due in Western Australia until late in the weekend as he plays at the rich Abu Dhabi New Year’s exhibition.