Bouchard ousted from Wimbledon
Eugenie Bouchard would not see a repeat of the finals nor have further action at Wimbledon as her game was dominated in the opening round. Her defeat came at the hands of China’s Ying-Ying Duan who played a strong performance on Court winning 7-6, 6-4 on Court Three Tuesday afternoon.
The popular Canadian tennis star might have her best chance at making it through to the second round. The 21-year-old Montreal native makes her return to the All England Club that made her name well known in the tennis world. Though she made the finals last year, her current season hasn’t been a great one.
She recently shattered a four match losing streak before losing in the second round at the AEGON International. With knowing little to none about her opponent being trying to play easy in a Grand Slam would be foolish. Duan made her first appearance at Wimbledon and lucky to have drawn against Bouchard. Her strong fight through qualifying got her to this point where she has nothing to lose and more to gain.
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Bouchard attacked against the Chinese star, taking Game One on a double break point. She then took the second on game point where it looked as if she would continue her run. In a turn of the tables, Duan won the next pair with a double game point on serve followed by a double break point in Game Four. By Game Five the pace was being controlled by Duan who had the momentum building well for her. She won the lead on deuce and then broke Bouchard to open the gap.
The Canadian rallied back from a four game losing streak to win on a double break point that led to her tying the set up at four. Duan pulled off a great attack in Game Nine landing an ace on Bouchard leading to a love service. Yuan pushed Bouchard to the brink as she fought for the set in Game Ten.
On a huge mistake from the Canadian, Yuan got on the set point but failed to win as Bouchard fired a backhander causing the ball to lose speed and height. Bouchard held on to break Duan after three and move into further play in the set. Duan was forced into deuce during the eleventh game where after a break, she was able to hang on and earned another chance to win the set.
Bouchard forced a tiebreak to be played out as she used her backhand to dominate on shots to Duan. She worked through the deuce draw to get back into contention for the lead in the match. It didn’t go well for Bouchard off the blocks as she committed a double fault and an error that gave Duan a 3-0 lead. On the Chinese serve Bouchard launched a shot near the line that was out of reach. A double fault from Duan helped the Canadian climb back within a point before evening at three with a shot from Yuan landing outside.
A perfect combination of shots from Duan helped her jump out to a 6-3 lead where she put the set to bed in 48 minutes. It spelled the usual trouble for Bouchard as she has been in this situation too many times to be nervous. Her six double faults were the major factor for her losing control of the set and hoped that a change would arrive for her in the second.
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She opened with a win in the second winning on the double break keeping her nose ahead. Duan responded by holding off Bouchard on deuce where she ended the break to tie the set at one apiece. The Canadian kept at the grind on court winning Game Three on a game point that got the crowd to support her more. Yuan got back to level terms with a two point margin on serve keeping the pressure on Bouchard to break forward or fall back.
It didn’t go well as the Canadian ran into more problems than she could handle. A seventh double fault in the match became fuel for Duan to make an example of her opponent. The Chinese tennis star was unable to put the game away giving Bouchard the win on deuce and a 3-2 lead.
She continued leading Duan by a game after the 25 year old evened up in the sixth. Bouchard tried her hardest to overcome the double faults on serve in order to focus more on having solid rallies where her strategy could come into play. She would never get it into action as she pushed her double faults into double digits leading Duan to play for the match with a 5-4 score.
In a full excitement in her end, Duan finished Bouchard with a perfect love service to end the Canadian’s short play at the All England Club. Bouchard was a mess on court landing 45 of 82 shots on the serve that only 28 earned her points on. Her attempts on the second serve were no better as the 21 year old couldn’t bring her game out of the dungeon.
Duan was the big winner in more way than just defeating her opponent. She had a solid first serve landing 71 percent and scoring 40 of 50 possible points. Though she had 15 unforced errors, she was easily racking up points that gave her 82 overall. With her first victory at Wimbledon on her belt, she will get ready to face the winner between Tatjana Maria and Bojana Jovanovski Thursday.