Venus Williams knocked out by Daniela Hantuchova at Eastbourne

Her defeat came a day after the conquest of sister Serena Williams by top-seeded Vera Zvonareva.

Both Williams sisters are returning from lengthy injury breaks, but Venus says she heads to Wimbledon, which begins on Monday, with plenty of confidence as she targets a sixth title at the All England Club.

"I played a lot of matches here, spent a lot of time on the court," Williams said. "It's not the best luck today, but I feel good about my preparation. I thought I played pretty good. I thought more than anything I was able to get a lot of great competition. This has been ideal."

Slovak Hantuchova had lost all ten of her previous matches against Williams, only winning two sets, but has been in good form recently, reaching the Birmingham final last week.

She will face fifth seed Petra Kvitova, who beat Agnieszka Radwanska 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2), in the semi-final.

"I was really looking forward to the match today and really pleased that I was able to win," Hantuchova said. "It's obviously nice to see (the Williams sisters] both back. I think they're great for the game."

Hantuchova dominated the listless American in the first set, serving well, playing aggressively and showing confidence in going for the lines.

The former world No 5 broke in the third game after Williams double-faulted and then made a backhand error, and she broke again to lead 5-2 with a superb backhand pass down the line.

Williams offered a brief challenge as Hantuchova served for the set, but failed to convert three break points before Hantuchova closed out the set with a cross-court winner.

"I definitely wish I could have come out harder," Williams said. "I think she was a little bit tentative in the beginning, and then to lose serve wasn't ideal, but I definitely thought I was going break back. That didn't work out the way I wanted to."

The American, playing her first event since retiring with hip and abdominal injuries during the Australian Open in January, first faced defeat as Hantuchova held a break point in the second set to lead 5-3.

But Hantuchova hit a ball down the line that landed wide, and Williams went on to break for 4-4 when her return clipped the net and fell in her favour.

Williams then broke to love for the set when Hantuchova netted a weak backhand.

With both players battling the wind, Hantuchova regained the upper hand in the final set, breaking for 1-0.Williams had a brief revival, levelling at 2-2 before Hantuchova took the next four games.

Williams, who mis-hit a serve that flew out of the stadium, acknowledged that the wind had been a factor. She said: "Today was really tough. It was hard to capitalise on the serve. Right up until the last point, I took my racquet back and the wind blew it forward. I was like: 'Oh, no.' I think I probably even said: 'Oh, no.' But I give her credit to hanging in there. Pretty much on a day like today, you just have to hang in there."

Despite competing well this week, Williams said she would have preferred more time before returning to the tour - but added that Wimbledon was too tempting.

"I probably may have had a couple more weeks," she said. "But this is Wimbledon, after all. So I didn't want to miss it. But regardless, I think I'm playing pretty well. I tried to work as hard as I could coming back. It was definitely a long and slow road, but, you know, no pressure on me right now."