Fourth seed Rune crashes out of US Open to Carballes Baena
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Roberto Carballes Baena beat Holger Rune 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the US Open on Monday.
New York (AFP) – Danish fourth seed Holger Rune crashed out of the US Open on Monday, losing in four sets to Spanish journeyman Roberto Carballes Baena.
Rune, beaten in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon by Carlos Alcaraz, succumbed 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in 2hr 42min.
Carballes Baena, a clay-court specialist ranked 63rd in the world who has never been further than the third round at a Grand Slam tournament, will face either Russia's Aslan Karatsev or the Czech Republic's Jiri Lehecka in the second round.
The defeat was the latest in a series of disappointing early exits for Rune, the 20-year-old regarded as one of the brightest young talents in men's tennis.
Since his quarter-final loss to Alcaraz at Wimbledon, Rune has suffered first round losses at the Canadian Open, the Cincinnati Open and now the US Open.
The young Dane, who reached the third round of the US Open last year, had lashed out at organisers before this tournament, complaining about the decision to place his opening game on Court No.5 of the USTA's Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
However Rune refused to blame the choice of court for his defeat on Monday.
"It's not difficult, but it's different," Rune said. "You're more close to all the people. It's a nice atmosphere. It's no problem with the court.
"That's obviously disappointing, but not going to blame the court on the loss. He played very, very solid. Credit to him."
Against Carballes Baena on Monday, Rune was always struggling to find his rhythm, racking up 43 unforced errors and seeing his serve broken seven times by the 30-year-old Spaniard.
Sakkari stunned by Masarova
Greek eighth seed Maria Sakkari crashed out of the U.S. Open in the first round following a 6-4 6-4 defeat at the hands of Spaniard Rebeka Masarova on Monday.
World number 71 Masarova converted all three break point opportunities she had during the 87-minute encounter to secure her first career win over a top-10 player.
Sakkari had control as she consolidated an early break for a 4-1 lead but Masarova stormed back and won the next five games to wrap up the opening set.
In the second set, Masarova again consolidated a break for a 5-3 cushion and then, after Sakkari held serve to stay alive, closed out the encounter on her second match point with a backhand winner that dropped just inside the corner.
With the loss, Sakkari became the first seeded casualty of the U.S. Open.
For Sakkari, the defeat marked the final blow in a disappointing Grand Slam year for her as she followed a third-round appearance at the Australian Open with first-round exits at the French Open, Wimbledon and now the U.S. Open.
