Emma Raducanu, of Britain, reacts scoring a point on Alize Cornet, of France, during the first round … [+]
There will be a new champion at the U.S. Open this year.
Defending champion Emma Raducanu was upset in the first round by Alize Cornet of France, 6-3, 6-3.
“I’m sorry guys, I know you really like Emma, she’s a great player and a great person, I’m sorry I beat her tonight,” Cornet told ESPN’s Brad Gilbert on court.
“But I’m really happy about my performance, I played a really solid match.”
A year ago, as an 18-year-old, Raducanu marched through qualifying to win the championship over Leylah Fernandez without dropping a set in 10 matches.
Raducanu, who was born in Toronto to a Romanian father and Chinese mother, earned $2.5 million for the title. This year she earns $80,000 for losing in the first round.
She was unable to repeat her Grand Slam heroics after New York, losing in the second round at the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon.
Raducanu came into the U.S. Open having reached the round of 16 in Cincinnati where she took 6-0 sets from both Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka.
Alize Cornet, of France, returns a shot to Emma Raducanu, of Britain, during the first round of the … [+]
Cornet, who plans to retire next year, has a habit of coming up big against top players in majors.
She beat world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the third round at Wimbledon, No. 13 Jelena Ostapenko in the second round at the French Open and No. 15 Simona Halep in the fourth round at the Australian Open. She now owns seven wins over Top 20 players at majors since the 2020 U.S. Open.
“I think I’m just handling my emotions better,” she said. “I guess I’m getting old, I’m getting more mature. Now when I have to serve for the match, I try to stay in the moment. I think about what I have to do. Managing my emotion is just much better.
“I’m 32, so it’s better late than never, I guess.”
This year has been tough for defending champions in majors. They have won just two matches overall.
Serena Williams remains the last woman to defend a U.S. Open title (2012-14).
Williams, who plans to retire after the Open, will play her second-round match Wednesday night against No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamzagoria/2022/08/30/defending-champion-emma-raducanu-ousted-in-us-open-first-round/