British junior Hannah Klugman suffered defeat on her WTA main-draw debut as she lost to Yulia Putintseva at the Nottingham Open.
The 16-year-old, runner-up in the French Open girls final in May, fell 6-2 6-2 to world number 27 Putintseva in the first round.
Klugman is one of a number of highly-rated British juniors, having won the prestigious Orange Bowl junior championships in Florida aged 14.
But Putintseva was a step up in quality, with the Kazakh winning the Birmingham Classic title on grass last year.
“I felt very uncomfortable on my first match on grass, having done a long period on clay, so I struggled today,” Klugman said.
“It was a tough one against a top player – I’ve never played against someone like that.
“The crowd was amazing, as was the court. I just wish I could have played better.”
Klugman struggled on serve against Putintseva, hitting five double faults and winning just five of 18 points on her second serve.
She held just once in a first set that featured six breaks of serve, with Putintseva winning four of the final five games.
The Briton improved in the second set, moving around the court with more ease but an unfortunate bounce at the net wrong-footed her and Putintseva passed her to break for a 4-2 lead.
Putintseva then held before breaking Klugman once again to wrap up victory in 70 minutes.
Clara Tauson also advanced on the first day of the WTA 250 tournament, beating Australia’s Kimberly Birrell 7-5 2-6, but new Queen’s champion Tatjana Maria withdrew before her first-round match.
In Berlin, two-time Wimbledon runner-up Ons Jabeur made good use of her lucky loser status, coming past Caroline Dolehide 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 to reach the second round.
