Top seed Jasmine Paolini fell at the first hurdle at the Eastbourne Open, losing in straight sets to last year's Queen's champion Tatjana Maria.

Paolini struggled on serve throughout a one-hour, 31-minute contest, giving up 16 break points while only carving out four such opportunities for herself in a 6-4 6-3 defeat.

And Maria took five of those chances to break, as she sealed her third victory in six head-to-head meetings with the two-time grand slam finalist.

Things had started well for Paolini as she surged into a 3-0 lead at the start of the first set, but losing a marathon fifth game on serve was the turning point for the Italian, with Maria winning six games in a run of seven to take the opener.

The momentum was with the German from that point on, with two more breaks putting her 4-1 up in the second set. 

Though Paolini recovered one of those breaks, her attempt at a comeback fell short following another poor service game, with Maria converting her third match point.

Maria takes down the No.1 seed @Maria_Tatjana brings the heat to defeat Paolini 6-4, 6-3!#LexusEastbourneOpen pic.twitter.com/1eb0B1GsVX

— wta (@WTA) June 23, 2026

Paolini's grass-court struggles continue as Maria claims statement win

This was Maria's first top-20 victory since her brilliant run at Queen's in 2025, when she defeated Elena Rybakina, Madison Keys and Amanda Anisimova en route to her second grass-court title.

Paolini, meanwhile, was beaten on her first outing on the grass this year, having now gone 3-4 on the surface since losing the Wimbledon final to Barbora Krejcikova in 2024.  

The Italian won 60% of her first-serve points on Tuesday (29/48) and just 31% on her second serve (9/29). In contrast, Maria won an astonishing 89% on her first serve (24/27) and 41% on second serve (7/17).

Paolini also failed to fire in a single ace while serving eight double faults, compared to Maria serving eight aces and just one double fault.