British number two James Ward has been eliminated from a challenger tournament in Istanbul after losing in straight sets to Adrian Mannarino.
Ward reached the last four after he defeated number one seed Tobias Kamke in the last eight, but the Londoner couldn't repeat that display against the experienced Frenchman.
After dropping serve four times in losing the opening set, Ward won just nine points during a disappointing effort in the second as he lost by a 6-3 6-1 scoreline.
However, with no ranking points to defend this week, Ward will move to a career-high position of around world number 126 when the new standings are released on Monday.
