Former Colinton junior Fearnley went down 6-7, 3-6 to Damir Drumzur (Bosnia-Hergovina) but with statistics suggesting an overall improvement in his game.

Notably, Fearnley again curbed the tendency to avoid giving away cheap points with double faults and his tally of two overall in the final was one less than his opponent.

Also this was achieved by keeping his ratio of points won on second serve at a decent 69 per cent.

On the debit side he did sometimes seem over-eager to attack the net and at this level left himself too exposed to passing shots.

There was an incident, too, during the first set tie break when, with Jacob leading 4-3, a lob from his opponent was called in, somewhat dubiously; this seemed to unsettle the top seed – Dzumhur was seeded two – and he lost seven successive points thereafter.

It will no doubt be a disappointment to the Scot that he couldn’t replicate his last final success at Newport, Rhode Island, this summer but he goes into his opening match at the European Open in Brussels this week against Frenchman Hugo Gaston with a slightly improved ranking and more battle hardened.