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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Upstarts Bouchard, Halep fail to make it out of Wimbledon’s first round

Associated Press

LONDON – A year ago at Wimbledon, Eugenie Bouchard and Simona Halep met in a semifinal showcasing two of tennis’ up-and-coming stars.

Bouchard was only 20, Halep 22. Bouchard won that matchup to reach a Grand Slam final in the sixth major tourney of her career, a month after Halep was second at the French Open.

Back at the All England Club on Tuesday, both women lost in the first round to opponents ranked outside the top 100. For Bouchard, also a semifinalist at the Australian Open and French Open in 2014, it was the latest setback in a season full of them, including 12 losses in her past 14 matches.

“It’s been a huge learning process to have great results and then have, you know, so much attention, then have bad results. Just learning about the ups and downs of life and tennis, how things won’t always go perfectly, like I expect them to,” said Bouchard, who said a torn abdominal muscle limited her practice time leading into the match.

Her 7-6 (3), 6-4 exit against 117th-ranked qualifier Duan Ying-Ying of China made the 12th-seeded Bouchard the first Wimbledon finalist to lose her opening match at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament the following year since Steffi Graf in 1994.

The No. 3-seeded Halep was treated by a trainer for a lost toenail late in the first set of what would become a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 defeat against 106th-ranked Jana Cepelova of Slovakia.

“I knew it would be a difficult tournament for me,” Halep said, explaining that her confidence was low because of poor recent results. “But I didn’t expect to lose in (the) first round.”

Petra Kvitova, who beat Bouchard for the 2014 title, won 28 of 29 points on her serve – a double-fault in the final game was the lone blemish – in a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Kiki Bertens that required all of 35 minutes.

The second-seeded Kvitova, who is from the Czech Republic, said her parents made the trip for her match, but will be heading home right away.

“I have to say ‘Sorry’ to them” for such a short match, Kvitova joked.

Seven-time champion Roger Federer, two-time winner Rafael Nadal, and 2013 champion Andy Murray also advanced easily to the second round.