The return of Petra Kvitova of maternity leave after an absence of 17 months ended with the defeat while Jodie Burrage British was fighting to win in three sets at the Atx Open.
The double Wimbledon champion, Kvitova, 34, challenged his first WTA match since October 2, 2023, at the China Open in Beijing.
The Czech took a positive start and won the opening set, but the 25-year-old Burrage survived his opponent to win 3-6 6-4 6-4.
Burrage, ranked 189 in the world, will face the Australian Ajla Tomljanovic in the second round.
Kvitova, who gave birth to his son, Petr, last July, did not know if she would return to tennis before her break.
She said that she was partly inspired to come back after seeing her players’ colleagues such as Elina Svitolina, Naomi Osaka and Belinda Bencic do it after giving birth.
Back on the field, Kvitova ran in a lead of four games with a double breakdown of early service in Austin.
Burrage, who reached the second round at the Australian Open in January, threatened a response when she reduced the deficit to 5-3, only for Kvitova to break again and seals the opening set.
Former world number two Kvitova, who will be 35 years old in March, twice broken while Burrage applied the pressure in the second set, but the English woman again struck in the ninth match before holding the service to love a decision -maker.
The two players could not seize the break -out opportunities at the start of the third set.
But the decisive moment has arrived when Burrage saw four break points to hold 4-4, before breaking Kvitova in the next match and serving the competition.
British comrade French reached the second round of the Merida Open in Mexico.
The qualifier Jones, ranked 136 in the world, led 6-4 3-0 before the opponent Mayar Sherif, from Egypt, was forced to retire.
