Nottingham Open: GB’s Francesca Jones loses in last 16

British wild card Francesca Jones missed out on the chance of back-to-back quarter-finals at Nottingham when she lost 6-1 6-3 to seventh seed Linda Noskova.

On the day the 24-year-old discovered she had been awarded a wild card for the Wimbledon main draw, Jones battled hard against the world number 32, saving 20 break points in the match.

But despite her efforts she was broken twice in each set as Czech Noskova set up a quarter-final against Slovakia’s Rebecca Sramkova, who knocked out fourth seed Yulia Putintseva 6-1 4-6 6-4.

In the day’s other action at the WTA 250 event, Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska beat Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic 6-2 2-6 6-4 and Leylah Fernandez beat Cristina Bucsa 6-3 6-4.

A Briton is guaranteed to reach the quarter-finals, with Katie Boulter facing Sonay Kartal in the last 16 on Thursday. Also hoping to advance is 17-year-old Briton Mimi Xu, who takes on sixth seed Magda Linette of Poland.

Meanwhile, at one of the other pre-Wimbledon grass-court events, defending champion Jessica Pegula was knocked out of the Berlin Open in the last 16 by Liudmila Samsonova, losing 6-7 (10-8) 7-5 7-6 (7-5) in a gruelling encounter that lasted three hours and 21 minutes.

And there was an encouraging victory for two-time Wimbledon runner-up Ons Jabeur, who beat last year’s Wimbledon runner-up and fourth seed Jasmine Paolini 6-1 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals.

It was Jabeur’s first win over a top-five player in almost two years – and the first time since February that she has won consecutive matches – and comes at an ideal time with less than a fortnight until the grass-court Grand Slam starts.