Fery's US Open debut ends in first-round defeat

Arthur Fery's US Open debut ended in the first round on Grandstand Stadium, as he was beaten in straight sets by Italian 13th seed Lorenzo Musetti. The 24-year-old British number one, who had reached the Wimbledon semi-finals as a wildcard earlier this summer, lost 6-3 6-3 7-5.

Fery arrived in New York having reached his first ATP final in North Carolina last week, and was seeking another deep run at a grand slam. He rose from outside the top 200 a year ago to number 33 in the world, and was close to being seeded at Flushing Meadows, which would have seen him avoid a player of Musetti's class in the early stages.

After the match, Fery acknowledged his serve had not been at its usual level. "I know what I have to work on," he said. "I got a lot of ideas coming straight off the court of what I have to work on to do better. My serve really let me down today, which is not usually the case, but I've been struggling a little bit to find my rhythm on the serve. Today was particularly a struggle, but definitely playing guys at that level, it's tough and the margins are small."

The match

Fery matched Musetti until a sloppy service game, which included two double faults, cost him the opening set. At 4-2 behind in the second set, he squandered four break points, throwing his arms up in frustration after the last dropped into the net.

He secured his first break of the match at the start of the third set when Musetti's backhand floated long. Musetti immediately brought up two break-back points; Fery saved the first with a forehand winner but then sent a backhand millimetres wide.

Fery's exertions at the Winston-Salem Open last week appeared to take a toll, as he lacked his usual energy by the third set. Musetti, himself a former Wimbledon semi-finalist, was gifted another break. Fery showed resilience by saving two match points, but Musetti finished with an unreturnable serve on the third.

Musetti, a quarter-finalist 12 months ago and absent from the past two majors because of a thigh injury, will face Dane Sweeny in the second round. He described his game as "vintage" and, after the win, said he had stuck to his plan: "I stuck to the game plan, I'm really happy after missing the past two Grand Slams [through injury]."

The match was delayed by rain and played in hot, humid conditions. Fery wore ear plugs during changes of ends, as he had at Wimbledon, to maintain his focus.

This was only Fery's second appearance at an overseas major, following his Australian Open campaign in January.