Thursday 27 June 2019 15:02, UK
Johanna Konta suffered a setback in her preparations for Wimbledon as she lost in straight sets 6-3 6-2 to Tunisia's Ons Jabeur in the third round at Eastbourne.
The British No 1 will now enter Wimbledon having played only five grass-court matches, after also being eliminated at the second-round stage in Birmingham last week.
She led by a break in the first set before eventually succumbing to defeat and missed out on a quarter-final clash against Alize Cornet at her home tournament.
Konta made a promising start against Jabeur, the world No 62, and moved 3-2 ahead but her opponent immediately broke back and seized the momentum to largely ease to victory.
The British No 1 came into the grass-court season having produced the best clay-court campaign of her career, reaching two WTA finals and the semi-final at Roland Garros.
Konta is seeded 19th at Wimbledon and heads into the Grand Slam off a platform of less competitive match time on grass than in previous years.
The draw for the 2019 Championships will take place on Friday at 10am at The All England Club.
Meanwhile in the men's draw at Eastbourne, Kyle Edmund and Dan Evans will meet in the quarter-finals after their respective victories over Cameron Norrie and Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
British No 1 Edmund had to overcome a delay in play of 50 minutes while two spectators received medical treatment, but eased past Norrie 6-2 6-2.
The 24-year-old is now the highest seed remaining in the competition and is set for just a second career clash with his compatriot Evans.
Evans, who secured back-to-back Challenger titles in Surbiton and Nottingham alongside a strong doubles run at Queen's Club, climbed back from a break down in the second in order to prevail over Herbert 6-3 7-5.
