Dan Evans has suffered a straight-sets defeat to Jeremy Chardy in the Surbiton Trophy semi-finals.

The former British number two had been hoping to reach his first final after a year-long drugs ban, but the Birmingham-based player suffered a 6-4 7-6 defeat to the top seed on Saturday afternoon.

Evans competed well throughout the contest but a failure to convert any of his three break-point chances in the first set cost him as Chardy sealed the only break.

The second was equally competitive and eventually went to a tie-break, but a double fault from Evans gave Chardy three match points and the Frenchman took his first opportunity.

However, Evans will take the positives from a week which started last Saturday and after three qualifying wins and three main-draw successes, the 28-year-old is closing in on a return to the world's top 500.