Johanna Konta was determined to accentuate the positive, insisting she will take plenty of positives from her two matches at Wimbledon.
Eugenie Bouchard reached the final at the All England Club two years ago and cracked the world’s top five.
Since then little has gone right for the Canadian, as she lurched from a crisis of confidence to a series of injuries, including a controversial slip in the changing rooms at last year’s US Open.
However, it was Konta’s misfortune to run into her as she rediscovered her winning touch and underlined her undoubted class, progressing 6-3, 1-6, 6-1.
The British number one struggled to impose herself on the first set as she made too many unforced errors and repeatedly sprayed her powerful forehand long or wide.
But it was a total role reversal in the second set as Konta got the home crowd behind her and levelled the match in quick-fire fashion.
However, Bouchard found her 2014 form in the decider, her first serve percentage was high, she dictated from the baseline and struck a series of well-timed winners, asking questions Konta simply couldn’t answer.
But it’s worth remembering that 12 months ago Konta was ranked 126th in the world and this was just her second appearance on Wimbledon’s Centre Court.
Konta will now play hard court tournaments Montreal and Stanford before switching her focus to her Team GB debut in Rio in August.
“I’ve taken away a lot of good things from that match but obviously I wanted to stay longer in the tournament longer,” said Konta.
“I went in with no expectations. I thought she’d play well because while her ranking has gone down in the last year, she’s an incredibly good player and has lots of experience.
“I’m happy with how I’m developing and matches like this adds to my desire to keep getting better.
“Every match is incredibly important to my development and I’ve come up against two really in-form players here and they’ve really tested me and pushed my boundaries.”
Konta’s defeat and an earlier loss for British number two Heather Watson, means Tara Moore is the only remaining British woman in the singles draw, with her second round against Svetlana Kuznetsova taking place on Friday.
However, Andy Murray is through to the third round, where he’ll be joined by Davis Cup team-mate Dan Evans.
Elsewhere, third seeds Jamie Murray and Brazilian Bruno Soares won their opening men’s doubles match, beating Jonathan Erlich and Colin Fleming 6-2, 6-7, 6-3.
