Katie Boulter suffered a last-16 exit at Queen’s to fifth seed Diana Shnaider that means she will relinquish her British number one status for the first time in two years.
The 28-year-old battled hard but lost 2-6 6-3 6-2 on a hot but rain-affected day in west London.
Boulter has held the top spot in British women’s tennis since June 2023, but Emma Raducanu will now move above her in the rankings.
British singles hopes at the first women’s event at Queen’s since 1973 now rest with Raducanu after Heather Watson was also knocked out on Thursday, beaten 6-4 6-2 by 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.
Boulter, bidding to reach a seventh quarter-final on grass, had expressed concern about her serve earlier in the week, suggesting she would be working on it in the build-up to this match.
But no such troubles were apparent in the opening set against Shnaider as Boulter continually caused problems behind her first serve.
Having saved a break point, then secured an impressive break to love with a crowd-pleasing volley, Boulter battled to consolidate with an important hold and saved another break point along the way.
She then took the double break with a sweeping forehand, before more solid serving handed Boulter the opening set as rain threatened to come down.
But by the time the umpire suspended play because of a downpour, Boulter was down a break at 4-1 in the second set and in trouble on serve again.
After a 20-minute rain delay, she returned to have her serve broken for a second time and, despite recovering one break, she could not prevent Shnaider from forcing a deciding set.
Boulter once again came under pressure in the opening game, wiping out three break points to secure the hold as problems on serve returned with a vengeance.
She saved more break points in her next service game, only to double-fault and concede the break.
From there, Boulter struggled to regroup and went down a double break.
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Source: BBC
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