WIMBLEDON CHAMPION ELENA Rybakina crashed out of the US Open at the first hurdle on Tuesday, slumping to a straight sets defeat against French qualifier Clara Burel.
Burel, ranked 131st in the world, punished a lacklustre performance from 25th-seeded Rybakina to advance 6-4, 6-4.
Despite winning her maiden Grand Slam title in early July, Kazakhstan’s Rybakina received a lowly US Open seeding due to the fact her Wimbledon victory carried no rankings points.
Wimbledon was stripped of points by the WTA and ATP Tours over the championships’ decision to ban players from Russia and Belarus.
That meant that Tuesday’s opener featuring the Wimbledon champion was relegated to one of Flushing Meadows’ outside courts.
Burel immediately looked more at home in the surroundings, and seized the initiative to take the first set before building a lead in the second.
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Rybakina meanwhile was unable to generate momentum after a string of 37 unforced errors throughout the match.
She duffed a straightforward return from a Burel second serve into the net to give the Frenchwoman match point.
Burel then unfurled a corking forehand winner up the line on the next point to seal victory.
Burel will play either Venus Williams or Belgium’s Alison Van Uytvanck in the second round.
Elsewhere, unpredictable French player Benoit Paire slipped to an embarrassingly one-sided loss to Cameron Norrie at the US Open on Tuesday with the British winner claiming: “Maybe the heat got to him”.
Norrie eased to a 6-0, 7-6 (7/1), 6-0 victory on a sweltering and humid Court 11 where the temperature rocketed past the 30-degree mark.
Paire lost the first set in just 18 minutes and the third in 19.
He was so dispirited that at 0-5 down in the third, he even packed his kit bag despite there being another game to play.
“Obviously it was really hot, and maybe towards the end of that third set he was playing really quick and trying to make the points really short, and maybe the heat was getting to him,” said seventh seed Norrie.
Paire, who sat down in a corner of the court to to take shade during a break in play, will pocket $80,000 for his 98-minute defeat.
The entire match was only 15 minutes longer than it took Carlos Alcaraz and Sebastian Baez to play just the second set of their gruelling first round clash taking place at the same time over on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Paire, now ranked 173 in the world, came into the tournament with just four wins all year.
He remains a polarising figure having been warned for not trying at Wimbledon in 2021. He was also kicked of the French team at the 2016 Olympics for flouting team rules.
“He’s a really good guy. Everyone loves him on the tour, and he’s super talented, as well,” said a diplomatic Norrie.
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Wimbledon champion Rybakina crashes out of US Open
WIMBLEDON CHAMPION ELENA Rybakina crashed out of the US Open at the first hurdle on Tuesday, slumping to a straight sets defeat against French qualifier Clara Burel.
Burel, ranked 131st in the world, punished a lacklustre performance from 25th-seeded Rybakina to advance 6-4, 6-4.
Despite winning her maiden Grand Slam title in early July, Kazakhstan’s Rybakina received a lowly US Open seeding due to the fact her Wimbledon victory carried no rankings points.
Wimbledon was stripped of points by the WTA and ATP Tours over the championships’ decision to ban players from Russia and Belarus.
That meant that Tuesday’s opener featuring the Wimbledon champion was relegated to one of Flushing Meadows’ outside courts.
Burel immediately looked more at home in the surroundings, and seized the initiative to take the first set before building a lead in the second.
Rybakina meanwhile was unable to generate momentum after a string of 37 unforced errors throughout the match.
She duffed a straightforward return from a Burel second serve into the net to give the Frenchwoman match point.
Burel then unfurled a corking forehand winner up the line on the next point to seal victory.
Burel will play either Venus Williams or Belgium’s Alison Van Uytvanck in the second round.
Elsewhere, unpredictable French player Benoit Paire slipped to an embarrassingly one-sided loss to Cameron Norrie at the US Open on Tuesday with the British winner claiming: “Maybe the heat got to him”.
Norrie eased to a 6-0, 7-6 (7/1), 6-0 victory on a sweltering and humid Court 11 where the temperature rocketed past the 30-degree mark.
Paire lost the first set in just 18 minutes and the third in 19.
He was so dispirited that at 0-5 down in the third, he even packed his kit bag despite there being another game to play.
“Obviously it was really hot, and maybe towards the end of that third set he was playing really quick and trying to make the points really short, and maybe the heat was getting to him,” said seventh seed Norrie.
Paire, who sat down in a corner of the court to to take shade during a break in play, will pocket $80,000 for his 98-minute defeat.
The entire match was only 15 minutes longer than it took Carlos Alcaraz and Sebastian Baez to play just the second set of their gruelling first round clash taking place at the same time over on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Paire, now ranked 173 in the world, came into the tournament with just four wins all year.
He remains a polarising figure having been warned for not trying at Wimbledon in 2021. He was also kicked of the French team at the 2016 Olympics for flouting team rules.
“He’s a really good guy. Everyone loves him on the tour, and he’s super talented, as well,” said a diplomatic Norrie.
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Clara Burel Elena Rybakina Flushing Meadows US Open