Britain’s Katie Boulter and Sonay Kartal were both beaten in the opening round of the US Open, the latter losing out in a bizarre match with 18th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia in which both players suffered badly with cramp.

On a tough Tuesday for the Brits at Flushing Meadows, qualifier Fran Jones and lucky loser Billy Harris also suffered first-round exits on their US Open debuts, each losing in straight sets.

In what was also Kartal’s main draw debut in New York, the British No 3 was edged out by Haddad Mai in a tight opening set 6-3, before she battled back in impressive fashion to take the second 6-1, only to be the first to struggle with cramp early in the decider.

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Katie Boulter lost a point against Marta Kostyuk as her shot bounced off the top of the net and she walked away not realising the ball was still in play!

With Kartal limited, Haddad Maia raced into a 4-0 lead with a double break, and was 30-0 up on her next service game before she suddenly also cramped up.

It led to Kartal taking the next four points to claim one break back, Haddad Maia barely able to move, but the Brazilian summoned the strength from somewhere to take the next two games and clinch victory.

Both of the final two games went to multiple deuces as the two players struggled to move freely; Kartal had opportunties in both, but Haddad Maia eventually converted her third match point to secure a 6-3 1-6 6-1 win.

Boulter’s Grand Slam struggles continue

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Highlights of the US Open match between Katie Boulter and Marta Kostyuk

Boulter’s Grand Slam struggles continued as she was beaten by Ukrainian 27th seed Marta Kostyuk in straight sets, 6-4 6-4.

Boulter hasn’t been in the third round of one of the majors in eight attempts, the 2023 US Open the last time she did so, and the British No 2 is now set to drop outside of the world’s top 50 with her latest defeat.

Boulter’s only previous match against Kostyuk came in the final of the San Diego Open last spring in which she secured her maiden WTA 500 title.

Here, Boutler battled back from a break down in both sets, only to hand the advantage back immediately to her opponent on each occasion.

The 29-year-old showed further fight when saving five match points on her own serve down 3-5 in the second set, while she then quickly went 0-40 on Kostyuk as she threatened to restore parity and kick-start a comeback bid.

But Kostyuk repelled that threat, taking the next six points to secure her safe passage through to the second round.

Jones and Harris beaten on New York debuts

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Highlights of the US Open match between Francesca Jones and Eva Lys

After a nervous start, Jones showed fight in the second set of her defeat to Eva Lys before going down 6-0 7-5 to the German, ranked 59th in the world.

Jones lost all of her opening five service games but at least broke Lys twice to start the second set to finally get herself on the board.

Things stayed on serve for the remainder of the second set until, with Jones serving to force a tiebreak, was broken decisively by Lys, who clinched victory with her second match point.

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Highlights of the US Open match between Billy Harris and Felix Auger Aliassime.

Harris also went down in straight sets to Canadian 25th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, 6-4 7-6 (10-8) 6-4, albeit that doesn’t tell the whole story in match lasting just short of three hours.

Harris battled back from a break down in both the first and third sets as he made Auger-Aliassime sweat, while he was a break up and spurned three set points when crucially losing the second.

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