EUGENIE BOUCHARD tumbled out at the first hurdle as the bottom half of the women's draw at Wimbledon lost two of its biggest stars.

Canadian Bouchard was joined in being bumped out by the third seed Simona Halep, but defending champion Petra Kvitova made rapid progress to the second round.

A year ago it was Bouchard who became the undisputed star of the show in the women's singles, drawing her Genie Army to the All England Club and powering through to the final, her athleticism and ebullience winning over the crowds.

She was all out of power on this occasion though, citing a stomach injury suffered in Eastbourne as a major factor in her 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 defeat at the hands of China's Duan Ying-Ying on Court Three.

"There was no question I was going to play even though I was advised not to," Bouchard, enduring a dismal season, said. "I'm disappointed because I lost and it was probably not the smartest decision."

Romanian Halep became the highest seed to join the Wimbledon first-round exodus as she perished to Jana Cepelova.

A semi-finalist last year, this time Halep folded from a strong position to lose 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 against a Slovakian opponent ranked 106th in the world.

Kvitova thrashed Holland's Kiki Bertens in straight sets, dropping just one point on serve throughout , which came with a double fault in the final game, as she beat Bertens 6-1, 6-0 in 35 minutes.

It was the Czech's first competitive match on grass this season but she showed few signs of rust on Centre Court.

Angelique Kerber became the third player at Wimbledon this year to achieve the usually rare 'double bagel' as she beat fellow German Carina Witthoeft 6-0, 6-0.

Former semi-finalist Kerber is a solid grass-court performer and won the Aegon Classic title in Birmingham earlier this month.

Seeded 10th for Wimbledon, she followed Venus Williams and Andrea Petkovic, who both won without dropping a game on Monday, in making the most straightforward possible progress to the second round.

Before this tournament, there had not been a Wimbledon double bagel in the women's singles for six years.

Caroline Wozniacki was in early trouble against China's Saisai Zheng but the Danish fifth seed roared back to win 7-5, 6-0.

Also advancing were Germany's 18th seed and former finalist Sabine Lisicki, Poland's dangerous 13th seed Agnieszka Radwanska, the eighth-seeded Russian Ekaterina Makarova and the experienced Serbian Jelena Jankovic, who won a deciding set 10-8 against Russia's Elena Vesnina.

A "pumped up" Heather Watson will target "controlled aggression" to equal her best-ever Wimbledon showing and set up a potential third-round clash with Serena Williams.

The British No.1 saved three match points to defeat Caroline Garcia in a truncated first-round tie that had been suspended for bad light on Monday night.

The 23-year-old prevailed 1-6, 6-3, 8-6 to set up a second-round clash with Daniela Hantuchova, then revealed she psyched herself up for yesterday's resumption of play with an intensive workout session.

"I always listen to music before I go on, upbeat, fast, dancy stuff but I did a lot more than usual before we went back out," said Watson.

"I warmed up for a good half-hour non-stop, quick stuff, lots of sprints just to make sure I was ready.

"I was so flat on Monday, I needed to be pumped up and fired up because I'd started the match so flat before.

"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."

Desperately clutching for form in a dismal first set on Monday, Watson vented frustrations by vigorously slapping her thigh in a bid to galvanise herself into the contest.

The Guernsey native admitted she does not even notice the lengths to which she will stretch when chasing full focus on court.

"Hopefully it's controlled aggression," said Watson. "It doesn't feel so good after the match.

"I don't even feel it when I do it. There's always a bit of a red mark after.

"It's the heat of the moment. I don't even know what I'm doing until after it's done, I don't even realise I've done it."

Watson's turnaround exploits followed the day after Liam Broady pulled back from the brink at two sets down to see off Marinko Matosevic in a five-set thriller.

The world number 64 might have put her reversal of fortunes down to mental edge, but was still left relieved to have fought through.

"I'm not sure why I started the match so flat on Monday, I felt good before the match," said Watson. "But these things happen.

"At the beginning of the match I was finding it quite hard to see with the light, as well.

"I'm just glad I was able to get in in that second set, otherwise it could have been over before it even started."

Not content with grinding her way back into the contest on Monday, Watson then faced down three match points for Garcia in Tuesday's finale.

The former world No.27 revealed when it came to the absolute final crunch she was able to jettison all nerves and concerns.

"I only thought for a second that it maybe wasn't meant to be this time," said Watson of fending off those three match points.

"But I said to myself 'no matter what, if she wants this match, she's going to have to win it, I'm not going to give it to her'.

"I just stuck in there, before I knew it, it was now my turn to close the match.

"I'm just pleased that I was able to correct my mistakes the second time, serving out the match.

"I made sure I made a few more first serves; I think that made the difference."