Emma Raducanu was beaten by Croatia's Donna Vekic in the women's singles final of Queen's despite a battling display by the British No 1.
Raducanu - hoping to become the first British female winner at Queen's since Ann Jones in 1969 - was completely overpowered in the opening set by Vekic as the 29-year-old, ranked 76th in the world, took it 6-0.
But Raducanu dug in and secured a double-break advantage in the second set as she looked to force a decider, until Vekic found her earlier form once more to claim four games on the spin and take things to a tie-break.
Vekic eventually converted a fifth championship point to secure the title with a 6-0 7-6 (8-6) victory.
Rain earlier in the tournament resulted in Raducanu having to power through two matches on Saturday, beating Kamilla Rakhimova in the quarter-finals and then American sixth seed Iva Jovic in the semis - both done in straight sets - to reach the first grass-court final of her career and third at tour level.
The former US Open champion had spent two hours and 19 minutes longer on court the previous day than her opponent, who needed just one match - a swift 6-1 6-3 win over fellow Brit Katie Boulter - to reach the final.
Vekic, who only got into the main draw as a lucky loser after defeat in qualifying, saved two set points of Raducanu's in the 10th game of the second set before going on to claim her first title since 2023.
Despite falling short in her bid for a dream title on home soil, Raducanu chose to focus on the positives after a challenging 2026 season, having missed two and a half months with a post-viral illness and won just one match since March.
Her run at Queen's means she will now likely be seeded for Wilmbledon, with Raducanu provisionally ranked 31st and Vekic 32nd.
"It has been an incredible week for me, making the final here in my home city, at my home tournament," Raducanu said after her defeat.
"The support I have received has been incredible, so I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone.
"Today was a really tough match. Donna played extremely well from the start to the finish.
"Thank you for getting me through some tough moments again and for helping me push back in that second set."
Raducanu later added, when speaking to reporters: "The performances I had this week, I played really well. I was able to play and dictate, and that's something I wasn't able to do [in the final].
"I managed to get myself back into the second set, and I'm proud of how I fought. That's not something that in the past years I have always done, so that's a positive."
Former British No 1 Tim Henman, speaking to Your Site News:
"It was a pretty rough first set for Emma, but such is her spirit that she started the second set in fine form.
"She was up a double break, served for the set twice and had set points on her serve at 5-4.
"She'll be disappointed she didn't get it into a third set, but Vekic is a Wimbledon semi-finalist [in 2024] and has won titles on grass before. She's a quality player.
"I think this has been such a positive week to have Emma back competing and winning matches, playing that controlled, aggressive tennis that we've seen in the past.
"It's pretty clear to see that she was in great spirits on the court; her body language looked very positive.
"There's so much upside from this week. It's only one week; she's got to keep building on it, and fingers-crossed she can do that."
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