Top seed Lindsay Davenport tumbled out of Eastbourne last night.

The American was blown off course at windswept Devonshire Park in the Hastings Direct Championships.

Unseeded Italian Silvia Farina Elia scored a shock 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 success in the second round.

Davenport had won all five of their previous clashes, including a three-set victory in the quarter-finals on her way to the Eastbourne title two years ago.

The world No.5 threatened to pull off a remarkable recovery in the deciding set, when she trailed 1-5 and 15-40 and saved five match points.

Farina Elia then saved three match points at 5-6 before taking the tie break 7-3 to win in two hours and 13 minutes.

Davenport said: "The conditions were a frustration more than anything. It was not a nice way to play tennis because, win or lose, you don't feel you have hit the ball that well.

"I played awfully all day, so if I had got through I would have been pretty amazed. It was my first match on grass this year and it's hard enough, without a wind."

Davenport does not expect the defeat to affect her chances at Wimbledon next week. "I played awful here in 2000 and still made the final," she said.

Of more concern is an inflamed left nerve in her foot, which will require surgery later in the year, and a lack of motivation for the recently married Californian.

"It has been a struggle just to get motivated after all these years," she admitted. "If you are not motivated you are not going to play great tennis.

"I don't know if it is so much getting married as 12 to 13 years of grind week in and week out. There is no question you want to play well at the Grand Slams, but I cannot go out and not give 100 per cent for the whole match. That was pretty poor."

Farina Elia now faces No.8 seed Magdalena Maleeva, winner of the DFS Classic in Birmingham.

Jennifer Capriati celebrated her Eastbourne return with an incredible second set comeback.

The third seed, playing at Devonshire Park for the first time since 1990, was 5-0 down against fellow American Amy Frazier but beat the qualifier 6-1 7-5.

Capriati's quarter-final opponent today is Nathalie Dechy of France. She upset the seventh seed Ai Sugiyama from Japan in straight sets.

Yesterday's crowd rose for the fifth day in a row to 5,629.