Tennis

The exuberant and carefree Emma Raducanu of late summer 2021 has taken a few hard knocks this year.

Signs of recovery were evident in her performances in both Washington and Cincinnati, but a lack of matches and confidence left her vulnerable to an opponent of the quality and experience of Alize Cornet.

The blisters on the 19-year-old's racquet hand probably made no difference to the result, but they are a reminder of the sequence of minor injuries that have contributed to a fitful season.

Life on tour will be a little different for the foreseeable future.

Raducanu will still be a draw on the show courts - and a desirable scalp for her peers. But with a ranking that will be about 80 come the end of the US Open, seedings and first-round byes will dry up and qualifying for some events will be back on the agenda.

"Qualifying isn't always a bad thing, as I displayed last year," she reminded me, after the straight-set defeat to Cornet in the first match of her US Open defence.

Raducanu spoke of a "clean slate", and plans to play some smaller tournaments between now and the end of the season, starting in Seoul in just under three weeks' time.

Four weeks remain of the WTA season after that, plus the chance to represent Great Britain in the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Glasgow. Raducanu has only been able to play 29 matches this season, so will seek to put this remaining time to very good use.

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Emma Raducanu struggled with blisters on her racket hand during her defeat by Alize Cornet

Jack Draper, 20, beat the Canadian sixth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4 6-4 6-4 in impressive fashion.

Late into the night, Draper continued his brilliant US Open debut with a remarkable win over Auger-Aliassime in which the Briton's serve was never broken.

The rising star of British tennis, Draper had already toppled players like Stefanos Tsitsipas and Dominic Thiem earlier in August and he made light work of his meeting with Auger-Aliassime on Louis Armstrong Stadium, one of the biggest stages in his sport.

He broke his opponent's serve in the opening game, capitalising on 2021 semi-finalist Auger-Aliassime's errors before saving three break points to serve out the first set.

Auger-Aliassime, ranked eighth in the world compared to Draper's 53rd, was completely outplayed by the young Briton, who has risen more than 200 places in the rankings in the past year and this win will earn him a place in the top 50 for the first time.

Victory puts Draper into the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time, where he will face Russian 27th seed Karen Khachanov.

"I have put in a lot of hard work the last few years. I have been a bit unfortunate with injury at a young age," Draper said. "I played a really good match today."

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Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans ensured there will be four British men in the last 32 of the US Open for the first time with confident wins in New York.

Norrie, the nation's leading player, joined him with a 6-4 6-4 7-6 (7-4) win over Portugal's Joao Sousa.

Seventh seed Norrie, who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals in July, followed Evans out on to the same court on Thursday and beat Sousa to match a career-best run at the final major of the season.

Full of effort and endurance as usual, 27-year-old Norrie did not play at his highest level but still had enough quality to grind down 59th-ranked Sousa.

After the pair traded breaks early in the match, Norrie took his opponent's serve again towards the end of the first set and moved further ahead with a single break in the third game of the second.

From that point, particularly with 33-year-old Sousa struggling with his shoulder, Norrie was expected to steam through to victory.

There was a reality check when he had to see off a break point in the sixth game, but continued to dig in and clinched victory in the tie-break.

Norrie goes on to play Denmark's Holger Rune, who was given a walkover into the third round when American John Isner withdrew with a fractured wrist.


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US Open: Serena Williams' career over after Ajla Tomljanovic defeat.

Serena Williams waved farewell to the US Open - and her illustrious career - amid emotional scenes after she lost to Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic on a compelling night in New York.

Williams, who turns 41 this month, is set to retire after the tournament.

It will end a 27-year professional career that brought 23 major singles wins and sees the American widely labelled as the greatest of all time.

Williams fought back from a set down but ended up losing 7-5 6-7 (4-7) 6-1.

The former long-time world number one saved five match points in what proved to be the final game but was powerless to stop a sixth.

Almost everyone who could rose to their feet when she departed the court on Arthur Ashe Stadium - the scene of her first major triumph in 1999 and five more of the finest wins of her storied career - for what she expects to be the final time.

As she waved goodbye and gave a signature twirl, Tina Turner's pop classic 'Simply The Best' boomed out over the sound system.

Asked if she would reconsider retiring after her performances this week, Williams said: "I'm literally playing my way into this and getting better. I should have started sooner this year. I don't think so, but you never know."

Williams had tears streaming down her face when she was interviewed in the middle of the court, thanking her family, team, the crowd and her fans across the world for their support over the years.

"I thank everyone that's here, that's been on my side so many years, decades. Oh my gosh, literally decades," said Williams, who played her first professional tournament as a 14-year-old in 1995.

"But it all started with my parents. And they deserve everything. So I'm really grateful for them.

"And I wouldn't be Serena if there wasn't [sister] Venus, so thank you, Venus. She's the only reason that Serena Williams ever existed."

Tomljanovic, who moves into the fourth round and plays Russia's Liudmila Samsonova, stepped to the side and applauded her opponent as she took the microphone.

The world number 46 produced a phenomenal performance to block out the noise and sense of occasion, illustrated by her clinical hitting in the final stages of a brutal contest which lasted three hours and five minutes.

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Serena Williams has won 23 Grand Slams singles titles, the second most in tennis history


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Today's Matches Are:

Cameron Norrie v Andrey Rublev - The pair face off at 16:00 BST on Monday on Louis Armstrong Stadium.

In the men's doubles third round, Briton Lloyd Glasspool and Finn Harri Heliovaara take on Australian Open champions Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis.

Neal Skupski and Dutchman Wesley Koolhof face another Australian pairing, Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell, who won the Wimbledon title in July.

Nadal out😂😂 so only one asterisk next to his list of Grand slam titles.

US Open: Britons Lloyd Glasspool and Neal Skupski reach doubles quarter-finals.

Briton Lloyd Glasspool and Finn Harri Heliovaara saved two match points before beating Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis to move into the US Open men's doubles last eight.

The pair won 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (10-8) against the Australian Open champions.

They now play Colombian duo Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.

Monday's victories for Glasspool and Skupski mean that three Britons have got through to the men's doubles quarter-finals, with world number one Joe Salisbury already there alongside American partner Rajeev Ram.

Australians Kyrgios and Kokkinakis - dubbed the Special Ks as a doubles partnership - had cruised to the first set and had two match points while ahead 6-5 in the second set on the Grandstand court.

But 11th seeds Glasspool and Heliovaara fought back, edging two nervy tie-breaks to reach a maiden quarter-final at Flushing Meadows.

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Lloyd Glasspool (left) and Harri Heliovaara reached the US Open quarter-finals for the first time


Second seeds Neal Skupski and Koolhof defeated Wimbledon champions Ebden and Purcell 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 6-3.

The pair have reached the last eight in three of their four Grand Slams since partnering in January.

The exception was a last-16 defeat by Ebden and Purcell at Wimbledon.

Skupski and Koolhof face Marcelo Demoliner of Brazil and Portugal's Joao Sousa in the last eight in New York.

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Neal Skupski and Wesley Koolhof started playing together in January

The one that goes next to 2022 Aussie Open win,seeing as he wouldn't have won it if Novak had been there.

Davis Cup: Neal Skupski added to Great Britain team.

Neal Skupski has been added to the Great Britain team for the Davis Cup Finals group stage in Glasgow.

The 32-year-old doubles player will join Cameron Norrie, Dan Evans, Andy Murray and Joe Salisbury in captain Leon Smith's squad.

It will mark Skupski's third Davis Cup appearance, after competing in Madrid in 2019 and last year in Innsbruck.

Jack Draper, the other option for the final place in the squad, was injured at the US Open.

"We are delighted to add Neal to the team," said Smith.

"He's had an outstanding year on tour which seems him part of the number one doubles team on the ATP season-long race and on the cusp of individually becoming the number one player in the doubles rankings.

"We have a very strong team with all of our players in really great form. We face tough challenges against the other nations in our group and we need to be ready to battle hard in all the matches in front of our home fans in Glasgow."

The Davis Cup Finals group stage takes place at Emirates Arena from 13 September.

GB will face the United States, Kazakhstan and the Netherlands for a place in the November Finals in Malaga.

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Neal Skupski won a second successive Wimbledon mixed doubles title in the summer alongside American team-mate Desirae Krawczyk