Entry into the fray of a mistress of the surface!

There are matches where the stats take a back seat. Ostapenko on grass is an obvious truth you can see with the naked eye even before opening a spreadsheet. The Latvian won this tournament in 2021, she has never lost a first round here in nine attempts, and her flat, aggressive tennis seems to have been designed specifically for this Devonshire Park grass. When she gets going, she’s simply unstoppable on this surface.

Jones comes in with the crowd behind her and a few grass-court matches in her legs, which is a real advantage against an Ostapenko who’s starting her grass season today. The Brit is an endearing, courageous player who has built her career despite a rare physical condition that would have discouraged just about anyone else. But her 2026 form is poor, her career record on grass is fragile, and she’s running into the worst possible opponent at this stage of the tournament.