Sania Mirza's Wimbledon preparations suffered a setback as she went down in the second round of the DFS Classic grass court tournament in Birmingham on Tuesday.
She lost to third seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 1-6, 5-7 in 69 minutes.
The 19-year-old, who slipped to 75 in the WTA rankings this week, was polished off in the first set in 23 minutes.
Sania attempted a comeback in the second set, breaking Jankovic in the first and seventh games. But Jankovic, the world number 20, was able to break back on both occasions to peg back the Indian's momentum.
The Indian ace also struggled with her serve, with only 46 per cent of her first serves on target, as Jankovic completed the victory.
Sania, trailing 15-40 in the tenth game, survived three match-points to level scores at 5-5. However, she could not sustain Jankovic's charge on her serve in the next game and lost the set 5-7.
Jankovic had also halted Sania's march at the Dubai Open earlier this year with a 6-2, 6-2 win the quarterfinals, after the Indian teenager had scored a sensational victory over US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
In the first round of the DFS Classic, Sania had beaten Claudine Schaul 6-2, 6-0 while Jankovic had received a bye.
More from rediff