ONE of the tag-lines to any Wimbledon warm-up tournament is 'Watch The Stars of the Future'.

But in the case of the Aegon Ilkley Trophy, which finishes on Sunday and is being staged for the third time, it is oh so true.

Two years ago, Jelena Ostapenko, winner of the recent French Open women's singles, lost in the second round at Ilkley, while last year's Ilkley top seed Jordan Thompson defeated world No 1 Andy Murray 7-6, 6-2 at Queen's Club on Tuesday.

Latvian Ostapenko, then 18, profited from the retirement of Russia's Vitalia Diatchenko, who lost the opening five games, before being defeated by eventual semi-finalist Anett Kontaveit (Estonia) 6-1, 6-2 in the last 16 at Ilkley.

At Roland Garros earlier this month, world No 47 Ostapenko beat Louisa Chirico, Olympic champion Monica Puig, Lesia Tsurenko, former US Open champion Sam Stosur, ex-world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki, Timea Bacsinszky and twice French Open finalist Simone Halep to boost her ranking up to 12.

Ostapenko, who had never won a WTA main tour title before, was the first Latvian to win a Grand Slam and the first unseeded player to win the French Open women's singles since 1933.

Thompson, who bowed out in the Ilkley quarter-finals last year to popular French player and eventual runner-up Vincent Millot, should not even have been facing Murray.

The 23-year-old only got into the draw as a lucky loser when Britain's Aljaz Bedene withdrew with a wrist injury.

World No 90 Thompson, who defeated 2015 Ilkley winner Denis Kudla in the first qualifying round at Queen's, had been beaten by experienced Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in the final qualifying round.

Big names have also fallen at Ilkley this week, with former world No 8 Jurgen Melzer (Austria) bowing out 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 to Australian John Millman, while 2015 runner-up Matthew Ebden (Australia) fell in three sets to 2016 Wimbledon hero Marcus Willis, also in the first round.

Willis lost the first set 6-1, and admitted: "I got off to a slow start and let things bother me in my first service game.

"I should have been 40-0 up but was foot faulted on a serve and then served an ace which was called a let."

After that, however, Willis played well to win 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 to book a match against fellow left-hander Millot today.