No Wimbledon repeat as Fery falls in US Open first round

British number one Arthur Fery, 24, was beaten in the first round of his US Open debut by Italy's 13th seed Lorenzo Musetti, going down 3-6 3-6 5-7.

Fery had hoped to build on a remarkable summer that saw him reach the semi-finals at Wimbledon, a run that lifted him from 114th in the world rankings into the top 40. However, ranked 33rd, he narrowly missed out on a seeding in New York, reserved for the top 32 players, and was drawn against the versatile Musetti in the opening round.

Musetti, a US Open quarter-finalist a year ago who had missed the previous two majors with a thigh injury, denied Fery any hope of a comeback by breaking serve twice in a row early in the third set, sealing victory after a two-hour match.

It was only Fery's second appearance at an overseas Grand Slam, following his debut at the Australian Open in January. The match, played on the rain-delayed third day of the tournament on the Grandstand court, took place in hot and humid conditions.

Despite a confident start and early success at the net that troubled Musetti, Fery handed his opponent the first break with back-to-back double faults and lost his serve again to drop the opening set. In the second set, Musetti converted his first break-point chance with a strong winner off his one-handed backhand.

Fery rallied briefly in the third set, breaking to lead 2-0, but Musetti responded with a run of four straight games as unforced errors crept into Fery's game. The Briton saved a match point on his own serve and broke back to level at 5-5, but could not sustain the pressure, eventually losing on Musetti's third match point. Musetti will next face Australia's Dane Sweeny in the second round.