Daniela Hantuchova claimed her first victory over Venus Williams to send the American tumbling out of the quarter-finals of the AEGON International at Eastbourne.

25169 - Venus crashes out in Eastbourne

The five-time Wimbledon champion, playing at Eastbourne for the first time since 1998, lost 6-2 5-7 6-2 to Hantuchova, who finally beat Williams at the 11th attempt.

Williams has been out of action since January after suffering an abdominal injury, but looked in ominous form as she bowled over a determined Ana Ivanovic on Wednesday.

However, Williams was always on the back foot after a rain delay on Thursday and soon found herself a break down to the in-form Hantuchova, who reached the final in Birmingham last week.

Having clinched the opening set, Hantuchova forged another break in the second, but was pegged back by Williams, who bounced back to force the match to a decider.

But once again Williams was left to rue failure to hold her serve as an early break proved decisive, and Hantuchova held her nerve to book a semi-final clash against either Petra Kvitova or Agnieszka Radwanska.