The defending champion falls at the US Open

Emma Raducanu’s defense of her US Open singles title ended early as the British teenager suffered a first-round loss to experienced French rival Alize Cornet in the first round on Tuesday in New York.

Raducanu, 19, stunned the tennis world when she emerged from qualifying to win the title at Flushing Meadows last year – ending her country’s 44-year wait for a Grand Slam singles champion.

The following year saw a glittering string of sponsorship deals, but Raducanu’s time on the pitch was often marred by frustrations from inconsistent form and injury irritation.

Against 32-year-old Cornet – a sly operator who counts world no Rival always had an answer for what she wanted thrown at her.

Raducanu was forced to take a medical time-out at the end of the first set due to blisters and responded by taking a 3-1 lead in the second set.

But Cornet – whose performance meant she broke the women’s record for consecutive Grand Slam appearances at 63 – used her cunning to rein in Raducanu, breaking back at the earliest opportunity and doing so twice more to seal the set and the match see.

The loss means Raducanu will fall from her current WTA rating of 11th as she loses the points she defended before last year’s title win.

Afterwards, the Brit said she was content to work her way back up the rankings.

“It’s a clean slate. I can just start over.” said Raducanu.

“I don’t know what my ranking will look like. Probably pretty far down. With prospects, actually as a 19-year-old, I didn’t have a bad year.

“To be top 100 if you told me that a year ago I would take it.”

Cornet, number 40 in the world rankings, meets the Czech Katerina Siniakova in the second round in New York.