Defending champion ousted in first round
Raducanu’s U.S. Open defense ends quickly
NEW YORK — Maybe Emma Raducanu was simply trying to lower others’ expectations or make things easier on herself when she scoffed at the idea that there might by any pressure on her as she returned to the site of her remarkable out-of-nowhere run to the 2021 U.S. Open championship.
Sure sounded so when she declared, shortly before the start of play at Flushing Meadows: “I think defending a title is just something that the press makes up.”
Either way, her follow-up trip to New York did not last long. Raducanu became just the third woman in the professional era to lose in the first round one year after winning the U.S. Open title, bowing out 6-3, 6-3 against Alizé Cornet on Tuesday night.
“I’m sorry, guys. I know you really like Emma,” Cornet told the crowd at Louis Armstrong Stadium. “She’s a great player and a great person.”
Raducanu dealt with blisters on her racket-holding right hand and took a medical timeout after the first set for treatment from a trainer.
She also was simply outplayed by Cornet, a 32-year-old from France who ended No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek’s 37-match winning streak at Wimbledon.
“Obviously really disappointing. Really sad to leave here. It’s probably my favorite tournament. But also, I mean, in a way, (I’m) happy, because it’s a clean slate,” Raducanu said. “I’m going to drop down the rankings. (Will) climb my way back up.”
A year ago, at age 18, Raducanu arrived at Flushing Meadows ranked 150th to participate in only the second major tournament of her nascent career. She wound up making it through qualifying and winning 10 matches in a row en route to becoming the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam title, defeating another unseeded teen, Leylah Fernandez, in the final.
Since then, Raducanu has gone 15-19, including second-round losses at each of the first three majors of 2022.
Also playing under the lights was 22time major champion Rafael Nadal, who returned to the U.S. Open for the first time since 2019 and beat 21-year-old Rinky Hijikata 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3. Nadal did not show any serious lingering issues with the torn abdominal muscle that forced him out of Wimbledon in July.
Earlier in the day, seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams bowed out in the first round of the U.S. Open for the second consecutive appearance, losing 6-1, 7-6 (5) to Alison Van Uytvanck.
“She means so much to female tennis. Tennis, in general,” Van Uytvanck said. “She’s a legend.”
This was the 23rd trip to Flushing Meadows for Williams, who made it to the final in 1997 as a teen then won the trophy in 2000 and 2001, and her record 91st time participating in a major tournament.
Williams, 42, had never lost in the opening round at the U.S. Open until 2020, then was absent last year.
In other action on a humid and windy Day 2 at the hard-court tournament, women’s winners included 2017 champion Sloane Stephens, No. 1 Iga Swiatek, No. 6 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 8 Jessica Pegula, No. 9 Garbiñe Muguruza, No. 13 Belinda Bencic — whose opponent, Andrea Petkovic, said she is retiring from pro tennis — and No. 22 Karolina Pliskova, the 2016 runner-up in New York.
Men who advanced included 2014 champion Marin Cilic, No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz, No. 7 Cam Norrie, No. 8 Hubert Hurkacz, No. 9 Andrey Rublev, No. 11 Jannik Sinner, No. 15 Marin Cilic, No. 17 Grigor Dimitrov and No. 28 Holger Rune, who meets John Isner next.