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Ward's semi-final dream shattered by Dolgopolov

James Ward was sent crashing out © Getty Images

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There was double disappointment for Britain at the AEGON International on Thursday, as James Ward followed Elena Baltacha out of the tournament at the quarter-final stage.

Ward had shocked two former Wimbledon semi-finalists - Rainer Schuettler and Feliciano Lopez - on his way to the last eight, but his run was ended as he slumped to a 6-3 6-4 defeat against Alexandr Dolgopolov.

World No. 342 Ward, who was competing in his first ATP Tour quarter-final, was bidding to become the first player to advance to the last four of the tournament since Greg Rusedski went all the way in 2003.

Although he was unsuccessful, he gave a strong account of himself - it was a showing that is sure to see further ire aimed towards the LTA, who have been criticised by John Lloyd for refusing Ward a wildcard entry for this year's Wimbledon tournament.

Ultimately Ward was to pay for his inability to cause any disruption to his opponent's first serve - Dolgopolov won all but three of the points there across the 80 minutes of action.

Dolgopolov will take on in the semi-finals after the No. 8 seed maintained his 100% record against fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon with a 6-1 6-3 triumph.

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez recovered from losing the first set to reach the semi-finals in Eastbourne for the second straight year. The Spaniard looked second best for much of the match but played the big points well as he secured his progress with a 4-6 6-3 7-6(2) win over No. 4 seed Julien Benneteau.

Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin will be Garcia Lopez's next opponent. The 23-year-old powered into his second semi-final of the season with a crushing 6-4 6-1 win over Illya Marchenko.

At the Unicef Open, defending champion Benjamin Becker reached his second consecutive semi-final with a comfortable 6-3 6-3 win over fellow German Simon Greul.

The eighth seed trailed 3-1 in the first set but hit back in style to win five games in a row to take the first set, before sealing his progress with two further breaks in the second.

Janko Tipsarevic will be Becker's next obstacle to a successful title defence. The Serb served 12 aces as he cruised past Peter Luczak 6-3 6-3 in just over an hour.

World No. 71 Sergiy Stakhovsky reached his first semi-final of the year with a dominant 6-3 6-4 win over Colombia's Santiago Giraldo. Stakhovsky will battle it out with Xavier Malisse for a place in the final after the Belgian saved nine break points as he edged past Alejandro Falla 6-3 3-6 6-3.

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