Yanina Wickmayer came out on top after a three-set battle with Katie Swan to win the Lexus Surbiton Trophy.

Wickmayer prevented Swan from securing the British number one spot after coming back from a set down to win 2-6 6-4 7-6 (1) weeks before both players head to Wimbledon.

The pair were not deterred by the Surbiton heat as they battled at a high intensity with lengthy exchanges which resulted in Swan taking a 4-2 lead in the first set.

And Swan’s serve proved to be a decisive weapon early on as Wickmayer struggled to deal with the 24-year-old’s precision which allowed her to be on the front foot in exchanges before she closed out the first set 6-2.

But Wickmayer began to find her feet in the second set as she jostled into a 5-4 lead, with Swan finally beginning to falter at the hands of the 33-year-old.

And the Belgian made no mistake in drawing level after she forced errors out of eighth seed Swan to close out the second set 6-4.

Wickmayer really began to show her class in the final set with some moments of excellence which left her opponent with no answers.

This came in the form of her returns, with her decision to choose placement over power proving to be a masterstroke as she firmed her grip on the tie late on.

Swan managed to take the deciding set to a tie-break but came up short after Wickmayer stormed into a 6-1 lead before she rounded off the set to be crowned champion.

In a court-side interview broadcast by the LTA, Swan said: “I feel like it was a high-level match all the way through.

“It was tough because as soon as I dropped my levels slightly she was all over me and I had to maintain that for as long as I could. It was so tough but it was really high level overall.

“She is in unbelievable shape, I don’t know how she can be that good after having a baby. I think it’s incredible what she’s doing.”

A visibly frustrated Andy Murray eventually saw off qualifier Bu Yunchaokete to reach the third round of the Surbiton Trophy as he continues his preparations ahead of Wimbledon.

The 36-year old skipped the French Open to focus on his grass-court season and give himself the best preparation for Wimbledon next month.

Murray, a two-time Wimbledon champion, is ranked 43rd and needs to climb around 10 positions to be seeded in SW19.

He increased those chances with a hard-fought 7-6 (1) 6-4 win over Yunchaokete, who is 130 places below Murray in the rankings.

Internet issues on the umpire’s scoring system led to a slight delay in starting the match and it took Murray a while to get going once things got under way.

As with his first round win over Chung Hyeon on Monday, Murray needed little time to hit his stride as he looked to back up his claims that he remains among the top 10 players on his favourite surface.

Chinese qualifier Yunchaokete had beaten Briton Harry Wendelken in the opening round but the step up in class left him at the mercy of Murray.

Two aces saw Murray take the third game and he broke serve in the sixth only to have Yunchaokete break back immediately, with the Briton throwing his racket to the ground in frustration.

Yunchaokete was starting to grow in confidence as he held to love to leave Murray grumbling away at the other end.

Two set points for Murray were not taken and he greeted another error with a cry of “I don’t know what is going on with my game” as the first set headed into a tie-break.

The self-administered pep-talk seemed to work as Murray dominated, this time letting out a roar of joy as he took the first set.

The outbursts of anger continued in the second set with both players still unable to put clear distance between the scores.

Murray would eventually maintain a high enough level to see off the spirited Yuchanokete and advance into the next stage as he aims to go one better than his semi-final place at Surbiton 12 months ago.