Great Britain’s Katie Boulter was unable to build on an excellent start as she lost to top seeded Italian Jasmine Paolini in the quarter-finals of the Mérida Open.
Facing the world number seven in Mexico, Boulter won the first set in 28 minutes without losing a game.
But errors appeared when Paolini won 0-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Having won just three points on serve in the first set, Paolini started the second strongly, holding for the first time and then breaking to go 3-1 up.
Boulter, who came into the competition on a streak of seven consecutive victories, including the Ostrava Open title, broke serve directly, but neither player could hold serve in the next three games.
It was Paolini who kept his nerve to take the second set and level the contest.
The Wimbledon and 2024 French Open finalist took a 2-0 lead in the decider and, although Boulter recovered and held serve to lead 3-2, the Italian’s confidence grew as she won four games in a row to claim a place in the semi-finals.
“It was really difficult: Katie, in the first set she smashed every ball and hit everywhere,” Paolini told Sky Sports.
“I told myself that I should play deeper on the court and hit the ball harder because I had to raise the level to try to win the game and in the end it worked.
“I was trying to be calm, to think about what I had to do. I think when you’re nervous you can’t find solutions.”