Wimbledon 2018: Johanna Konta facing the heat ahead of Championships after latest defeat by Caroline Wozniacki

Konta’s campaign here at the Nature Valley International ended when she was beaten 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the third round by the world No 2

Johanna Konta has now lost three of her last four matches (Action Images via Reuters)

Johanna Konta’s form has shown signs of improvement in recent weeks after what has been a moderate year by her standards, but the 27-year-old Briton will head to Wimbledon on a run of three defeats in her last four matches.

Konta’s Nature Valley International campaign ended here on Wednesday when she was beaten 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the third round by Caroline Wozniacki, the world No 2. For the second tournament in a row, following her first-round defeat last week at Edgbaston to Petra Kvitova, Konta had the misfortune to run into an early encounter with one of the world’s best players.

This match followed a pattern that has become familiar to Konta watchers. The world No 22, who reached the semi-finals here last year, played a good first set, only to lose her way as Wozniacki found more consistency. Errors started to flow more regularly from Konta’s racket as the match wore on, though she showed commendable fighting spirit in the closing stages.

The last time Konta beat a top 10 opponent was when she beat Simona Halep at Wimbledon last summer. Since the start of the year the Briton has dropped from No 9 in the world to her present position at No 22 and is likely to slip further down the order next week.

She will suffer an even bigger fall next month if she fails to defend the ranking points she earned by reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon last summer.

The last two weeks have followed what had been a promising start to the grass-court season for Konta, who won four matches at Nottingham a fortnight ago before losing to Ashleigh Barty in the final. Following her defeat to Kvitova at Edgbaston she beat Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic in her opening match here.

Konta said she would head for Wimbledon in a positive frame of mind, saying she had found her best form of the year in recent weeks.

“I definitely feel I'm getting better and better,” she said. “That's all I can ask of myself. I put in the work every day in everything that I do to make that so. I'm really looking forward to playing at Wimbledon. It's the best tournament in the world, so I'm looking forward to taking part in it again.”

This is Wozniacki’s first grass-court tournament of the year, the world No 2 having taken a break after the French Open. The 27-year-old Dane will face Barty in Thursday’s quarter-finals after the world No 17 beat Su-Wei Hsieh 6-0, 6-4.

It was another gloriously sunny afternoon at Devonshire Park in front of another packed crowd. Over the years spectators here have grown accustomed to shivering in the cold and damp, but by late afternoon the temperature had risen to a warming 26C.

Konta started well, winning the first point with a cross-court backhand and going on to break serve at the first attempt with a forehand winner.

Wozniacki looked sluggish in the opening stages and was grateful when a loose service game from Konta enabled her to break back to love and level at 3-3. Konta, nevertheless, immediately restored her advantage, breaking serve with a careful drop shot which even the athletic Wozniacki was unable to reach.

The Dane had two break points when Konta served for the set at 5-4 but the Briton defended both successfully, first with a service winner and then with a winning forehand. On her first set point Konta manoeuvred herself into a commanding position before putting away an angled forehand winner.

Konta failed to convert a break point in the opening game of the second set and was soon made to pay as Wozniacki went 2-0 up when the Briton missed a forehand.

Konta congratulates Wozniacki after their encounter at Eastbourne (Action Images via Reuters)

Wozniacki broke again in the sixth game and stumbled only momentarily when she served for the set at 5-1. From 40-0 down Konta saved three set points with some bold attacking play before her poorly judged drop shot enabled Wozniacki to level the match with a backhand winner.

Konta hung on grimly in the first game of the deciding set, holding serve after saving two break points, but was broken to love two games later as Wozniacki thumped a backhand winner down the line.

The Briton played an excellent game to break back for 2-2 but dropped her own serve once again in the following game to hand the advantage back to Wozniacki. At 2-4 Konta held serve from 0-40 down, but after two hours and 10 minutes Wozniacki served out for victory, securing her win with an ace.

Wozniacki was happy with her victory. “Jo has a very good game,” she said. “She plays very aggressively and she's a good player. She loves playing on the grass.”