The 2021 Eastbourne champion defeated Jones in just over an hour, as a difficult run-in to The Championships, Wimbledon continued for the British No.4 from West Yorkshire.
Keighley’s Jones will now turn her attention to the jewel in the grass court swing’s crown, which starts on Monday 29 June.
Jones said: “When Jelena has a good day, she has a good day. She’s pretty difficult to beat and she’s won here before, she’s very good on the grass.
“It’s been a really tough year for me, I’ve had a lot of ups and downs and I’m actually not playing bad tennis at all right now.
“I’ve not been exposed to that higher level [of competition] very often. The frustration of getting injured at my career high was that if you stay within your ranking bracket, you get exposed to this level consistently.
“It’s really good for me to see what the differences are, getting that exposure as I’m still so young in my tennis career.”
Ostapenko broke Jones’s serve in the first game and broke the world No.103 again at 5-2, before winning the first set 6-2 in 31 minutes.
Jones threatened to break back with the score at 2-1, but Ostapenko held on. The Latvian won nine of the last ten points in the first set.
The second set followed the same pattern as the first, with Ostapenko breaking Jones in her opening service game.
Brit Jones saved two match points before her Grand-Slam champion adversary secured a 6-2 6-2 win.
A former French Open champion in 2017, Ostapenko will face Hungarian opposition in the second round, against either Panna Udvardy or Anna Bondar who play their first-round match on Tuesday 23 June.
Ostapenko stormed to the title five years ago as a wildcard, defeating future Grand Slam contenders Ons Jabeur and Elena Rybakina, before reaching the final in 2022.
She is already part of an illustrious list of women’s draw winners on the South Coast, including Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Ostapenko and Karolína Plíšková.
Australian defending champion Maya Joint was knocked out in the first round by Colombian qualifier Emiliana Arango in straight sets 7-6 (7-2) 6-4.
This year, the 2026 Lexus Eastbourne Open also hosts a WT500 wheelchair tournament from Thursday 25 June, celebrating 50 years of the wheelchair game.
All three events come to a thrilling conclusion a day earlier than normal on Saturday 27 June, with a bonanza of finals tennis on the lawns of Eastbourne.
PLEASE LEAVE IN FINAL PAR – For the latest updates on the British summer grass court season, visit the LTA website, lta.org.uk
