Johanna Konta saw her hopes of Monterrey Open glory dashed as she succumbed to a 6-3 6-4 semi-final defeat against Marie Bouzkova.
The British No. 1 battled hard in Mexico but was unable to get past the current world No. 57, as she was made to rue missed opportunities to punish her opponent.
The world No. 16 failed to claim a crucial break point in the first set to reduce her deficit, before a similar story in the second ended her run in the competition prematurely.
It was a defiant performance from Konta, however, who was attended to by a physio during a medical timeout between sets to assess a knee injury.
The 28-year-old had shown impressive glimpses of form during her run to the last four in Monterrey, saving two match points in her quarter-final bout with Anastasia Potapova on Friday to progress to her first semi-final since the French Open in June.
She had also beaten Germany’s Tatjana Maria and Belgium’s Kim Clijsters in what was a promising showing in the competition.
But it wasn’t to be with a place in the final looming, as she was unable to take her chances before Czech player Bouzkova sealed victory with her first match point after one hour and 41 minutes.
Bouzkova will meet Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in the final on Sunday, while next up for Konta - who is yet to win a title since the Miami Open in 2017 - is this year's opening Premier Mandatory event in Indian Wells.
Sportsbeat 2020