Wimbledon: Jo Konta runs out of puff against Eugenie Bouchard to exit SW19

British No 1 beaten in three sets on Centre Court

Jo Konta was beaten in three sets on Centre Court (Getty)

If there were some suggestions that Wimbledon had yet to warm to Johanna Konta, whose first-round victory here was sparsely attended, they were well and truly dispelled on Thursday despite her defeat to the 2014 finalist Eugenie Bouchard in three sets in front of a raucous Centre Court crowd.

It was a case of after the Andy Murray Show for Konta who followed the Scot on to Centre Court, but the arena was still 90 per cent full despite her second-round match finishing in a 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 defeat just after 8pm.

Konta has the higher ranking – 19 to 48 – and was seeded here but Bouchard, who won the 2012 Wimbledon girls' title, arguably had the higher pedigree if not the better form going into the match. For Konta, this was her fifth Wimbledon but her opening-round win was her first SW19 victory. Bouchard had been here before.

(GRAPHIC NEWS)

“I’m very happy with the experience I was able to have,” a phlegmatic Konta said afterwards. “I had no expectations. It is a shame I couldn’t go further but I’m very happy with the way I’m developing. Matches like these add to the desire to keep getting better.

“Even in the final set most games were 30 or deuce, it was a battle every point. She played very, very well but I really enjoyed being out there. I’ve got a lot of good things to take away from that match.”

Konta, Australia-born to Hungarian parents, played her previous match on wet Wednesday, hence the relatively low attendance, but she made a sizzling start to her Centre Court debut, breaking to love Bouchard’s second service game. However, she handed the advantage straight back and, despite battling well from the baseline and dropping in the odd dinky drop shot, was broken again to lose the set 6-3.

Jo Konta hits out during her loss (Getty)

Konta, 25, gathered herself though and showed plenty of signs that she can have success in these parts in years to come as she demolished Bouchard in set two, breaking twice – one lovely lob perfect for the highlights package. She won the set 6-1, sealing it with a smash and a scream.

But Bouchard bounced back in brutal fashion taking the decider 6-1, one break earned after a remarkable rally, with both players at the net swapping volleys, and the Canadian eventually scraping the final shot off the frame.

So Konta’s rapid rise is stalled. This time last year she was No 126 in the world, now she is 19. She made the last 16 at last year’s US Open but really burst into the public eye when she reached the semi-finals on her Australian Open debut this year losing to the winner Angelique Kerber, but beating such starry names as Venus Williams en route to becoming the first British female to reach a Grand Slam singles semi in 32 years.

She will rue Thursday’s loss but will come again.

The 22-year-old Bouchard, whose royalist parents named her after princess Eugenie – she has a twin sister called Beatrice – was the queen of Wimbledon back in 2014 when she became the first Canadian to reach a Grand Slam final. But at that point her story turned a tad sour: she was smashed in no time by Petr Kvitova in the final which led her form over the edge of a cliff. She fell from world No 5 to 48.

Eugenie Bouchard was too strong for Jo Konta (Getty)

That wasn’t the only falling she did, either. She knocked herself out after a tumble in the US Open locker room on a slippery surface and is suing the USTA for lost earnings as she missed most of the end of 2015. Dizziness has bugged her since but she is on the mend. “I have had ups and downs but I feel better and I feel stronger,” she said afterwards. “I love it, there’s no feeling like it, walking out on to Centre Court…”

She walked out in the controversial Nike ‘Marily Monroe’ or ‘lingerie’ dress that has been criticised for being too revealing - “I didn’t feel comfortable showing that much,” said 2013 runner-up Sabine Lisicki – and too floaty “I felt like the dress was just everywhere,” said Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson. But it was Bouchard not the dress that was all over the place on Thursday running down Konta’s attempts to find a way past.

Bouchard, whose upturn in form coincides with her reunion with the coach that oversaw her early success, American Nick Saviano, now plays Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova in the next round, for Konta it’s back to the practice arenas. But there is little doubt the Brit will live to fight another day on Centre Court.

Elsewhere in the women's draw, No 2 seed Garbine Mugurza, last year's runner-up and the French Open champion lost in straight sets to Jana Cepelova of Slovakia.