While Kvitova was happy to sail through so quickly, she felt bad for her parents, who were guests in the Royal Box and got to see their daughter play for barely more than half an hour. Bartoli went on to win in straight sets 6-1, 6-4 to become the sixth player in the Open era to lift Wimbledon without dropping a set. Bouchard committed ten double faults en route to losing in just 90 minutes.
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Wimbledon’s “Heat Rule” allows for a 10-minute break between the second and third sets if the heat stress index rises above 30.1 degrees C (86 degrees F).
A year ago at Wimbledon, Eugenie Bouchard of Canada and Simona Halep of Romania met in a semifinal seemingly showcasing two of tennis’ up-and-coming stars.
Duan, who had never won a main draw match at a Grand Slam – she was 0-4 – looked a little bit out of sorts early on, as Bouchard went out to a 2-0 lead. There is no way I wasn’t going to play, even though I was advised not to.
“The victory has given me a lot of confidence”, she said. “So I did minimal preparation to save myself for the match”, said Bouchard.
Poor Eugenie Bouchard: She is on an incredible downward spiral in 2015 and is suffering from a torn abdominal muscle. “I don’t want that mentality”. “But I wanted to play, no matter what”, Bouchard said.
“I think emotion. I wasn’t there”, Halep conceded.
While Bouchard escaped any official sanction, being questioned on-court by a tournament referee was punishment enough for the 21-year-old. Instead, there was at times apparently just a small bit of strap showing – something which an eyewitness who happened to be there from the Eurosport office insisted was not visible from the stands. “I am very excited”. “Very disappointed in my last couple months”. It’s something I’ve realized and I’ve started to address.
“Today it was one set and that was it so I had to make sure I had a good start, so that’s why I came onto the court already sweating, very motivated”.
Her first round exit at Wimbledon on Tuesday was her eighth opening round defeat of the season – she suffered the same fate at Roland Garros – and through it all, Bouchard has been unable to find an explanation. After this loss, her ranking will plummet and the critics will swarm, wondering where her game has gone.
Put it behind me “Each time I had a loss, there were different reasons for each one”, she said afterwards. “So I will take some rest, and I will speak with my team, and I will work on it”. Emotional inside power, it’s not there 100 percent. Halep closed the 2-hour-fifteen match with 24 winners and 34 unforced errors, compared to Cepelova’s 16 winners and 20 unforced errors.
She also spoke of doing the hunting prior to Wimbledon 2014 and then becoming the hunted.
Halep performed really well at other tournaments this year, winning Indian Wells and Dubai. She acknowledged that, with so much focus on her Grand Slams this summer, it is at least a relief that this part of her season is over.
Bouchard reflected on her roller-coaster ride in recent months, saying she was learning from the experience of having a slump in form but still retained the belief that she can challenge for the sport’s top honours.
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Chair umpire Louise Engzell inspected to see if Bouchard had indeed broken the dress code but concluded the world number 12 had made no contravention and did not take any action.
