EUGENIE BOUCHARD’S fall from grace continued with a first-round defeat by China’s Duan Yingying at Wimbledon on Tuesday as her hopes of repeating last year’s run to the final evaporated.

    The Canadian 12th seed, crushed by Petra Kvitova in last year’s showpiece, was beaten 7-6(3), 6-4 on Court Three and her ranking will now slide considerably.

    Since reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in January she has suffered eight first-round defeats.

    Bouchard let slip a 2-0 lead in the opening set and after clawing back a 3-0 deficit in the first-set tiebreaker she capitulated with some unforced errors.

    World No. 117 Duan stayed cool when she served for the match at 5-4 in the second set, the Wimbledon debutant forcing Bouchard into a forehand error to seal victory.

    Duan, nicknamed as “Duanvenport” by her fans, said she hopes to win more matches.

    “(Lindsay) Davenport has been my idol since I was a child,” she said of the former world No. 1 American superstar. “My coach always asked me to learn from her because we have similar height and size.” Duan, 26, was satisfied with her first victory in a Grand Slam event. “This is the best result in my career,” she said. “I am very excited.”

    Duan will next face Germany’s Tatjana Maria, who defeated Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia 7-6 (2), 7-5 in the day’s another match. With fellow Chinese Zheng Saisai ousted by fifth seed Caroline Wozniachi of Denmark on Center Court, Duan has become the only Chinese player left in the singles event.(SD-Xinhua)