US Open: emotional 2021 champion Emma Raducanu loses in the first round to Sofia Kenin
The Briton was an 18-year-old qualifier when she surprisingly won the title in 2021, but has not won a match in the tournament since
“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 US 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 and who now faces compatriot Jessica Pegula.
“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 US Open. “I had confidence going into the match today, and of course I believed I could win.”
Kenin finished with six aces and 45 winners, almost twice as many as Raducanu’s 24.
Raducanu, who raised hopes of a renaissance when she reached the fourth round at Wimbledon this year, upped her level in the second set and got the critical break in the fifth game.
