Greg Rusedski crashed to a first-round defeat at the US Open against an inspired Cyril Saulnier on Monday. The Briton fought back from two sets to one down and held two match points in the final set tie-break, but Saulnier was not to be denied.
Having held the edge throughout the encounter he produced three stunning backhand winners to claim a 6-4 3-6 6-1 3-6 7-6 (9-7) win.
Saulnier will play 19th seed Nicolas Kiefer of Germany in round two.
Rusedski started off sluggishly and did well to take the match to a fifth set tie-break.
And it looked like the Briton would sneak victory when he served at match point, but Saulnier produced a magnificent backhand winner and wrapped up the match in two hours 55 minutes.
There was more bad news for British hopes soon after as Alex Bogdanovic went down to Alex Calatrava in five sets. Tim Henman takes on Ivo Karlovic at 1600 BST on Tuesday.
MMIX
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