KATIE Swan suffered heartbreak at the Ilkley Trophy today.

The 20-year-old from Bristol led 5-0 in the final set and had three match points against defending champion Tereza Smitkova only to lose 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the last 16 of the $100,000 ITF Women’s Futures tournament.

British wild card Swan did little wrong on her match points in the 10th game of the final set, but her opponent from the Czech Republic was just too good.

After a stuttering start on a breezy day, Fed Cup player Swan worked her way into a position of dominance as Smitkova struggled more with the elements but the eastern European put that behind her as she started the uphill climb from imminent defeat to victory in a match that lasted 2hr 24min.

Not surprisingly, Swan, who was the last British survivor in the women’s singles, disappeared both from the court and the venue after such a dispiriting experience on what was designated ladies’ day at Ilkley Lawn Tennis & Squash Club.

Other women to reach the quarter-finals included Jana Cepelova (Slovakia), who beat Varvara Flink (Russia) 6-4, 6-1; Monica Niculescu (Romania), who defeated United States qualifier Robin Anderson 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 and Timea Babos (Hungary), who despatched seventh seed Lin Zhu for the loss of one game in just 54 minutes.

Joining them in the last eight was former semi-finalist Anna Blinkova (Russia), seeded third, who beat qualifier Martina di Guiseppe (Italy) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in 2hr 12min.