BOUNCED

Emma Raducanu’s U.S. Open Title Defense Ends With a Whimper

The defending champion, 19, was beaten by French player Alize Cornet in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3.

Two weeks after Emma Raducanu beat the legendary Serena Williams in straight sets, the 19-year-old British tennis phenom had a taste of her own medicine, losing 6-3, 6-3 in a first-round match against French player Alize Cornet on Tuesday evening. The defeat brings a quick end to Raducanu’s U.S. Open title defense, a year after the then-unseeded player fought her way to an astonishing first Grand Slam win. Hampered by blisters on her hand during Tuesday’s match, Raducanu had to call a medical timeout at the end of the first set. But more than 30 unforced errors on Raducanu’s part over the course of the 102-minute game allowed Cornet, 32 years old and playing her 63rd straight Grand Slam, to cruise to victory. Ahead of the Open, the 19-year-old said she hadn’t internalized the pressure. “I think defending a title is just something that the press makes up,” she said. “I’m just taking it one match at a time.” In a post-match interview, Cornet called her opponent “a great player and a great person.”