US Open: 2021 champion Emma Raducanu loses in the first round to Sofia Kenin

NEW YORK (AP) — Emma Raducanu wiped away tears at her post-match news conference after losing to Sofia Kenin 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 in the first round of the U.S. Open on Tuesday night, keeping the 2021 champion winless at the tournament since her title.

“I feel down. I feel sad,” Raducanu said, pausing to find her words. “Obviously this is a tournament I really want to do well in.”

Three years ago, Britain's Raducanu was 18 at the U.S. Open when she became the first qualifier to claim any Grand Slam singles championship. She was eliminated in the first round by Alizé Cornet in 2022, then missed the trip to Flushing Meadows last year after having surgery on both wrists and an ankle.

This time, Raducanu was outplayed down the stretch by Kenin, an American who won the Australian Open in 2020.

“I’m mentally super tough, and I feel like that’s something that I’ve always had," said Kenin, who had lost six of her past seven matches heading into the U.S. Open. “I had confidence going into the match today, and of course I believed I could win.”

Kenin finished with 45 winners, nearly twice as many as Raducanu's 24.

“She's a Slam champion for a reason. ... Credit to her,” said Raducanu, who hadn't played a match on tour since a loss in Washington on Aug. 2.

The lack of action might have been a mistake but was a result of a “collective” decision by her team, Raducanu said.

Her next event will be the Korea Open, which starts in Seoul on Sept. 16.

“Until then, I'm just going to go back to the drawing board and train and analyze where I went wrong and try and improve for the rest of the season,” Raducanu said. “Obviously the Slams are over for this year, but it's not actually that long until Australia comes around again (at the start of next season).”

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Howard Fendrich, The Associated Press