Emma Raducanu's run at the Canadian Open came to an abrupt end as she was eliminated by defending champion Camila Giorgi in straight sets in the first round.
The reigning US Open champion has been aiming to build momentum ahead of the defence of her crown at Flushing Meadows but fell to a 6-7 [0-7] 2-6 defeat on centre court.
Giorgi - the defending champion in the Canadian Open - struggled to get her serves right in the warm-up and could not correct things in the opening exchanges, as Raducanu broke in the first game.
The Italian struck back straight away in a first set that was characterized by a plethora of breaks - three apiece for each player - but Giorgi kicked up a gear in the resulting tie-break.
Raducanu failed to win a single point in the tie-break and ceded the first set courtesy of a double fault, but she would regain her composure to go 2-0 up in the second set following an immediate break of serve.
However, an aggressive Giorgi would proceed to win five games in a row and amass a magnificent streak of consecutive points won, as a down-the-line backhand took her to within one game of the second round.
Raducanu had no answer to Giorgi's strong play at the net and found herself three match points down, but the Italian squandered one of them with a forehand smash that she got horribly wrong.
A wry smile appeared on the face of Giorgi before she posted her sixth double fault of the match to give Raducanu another glimmer of hope, but she made no mistake on her third match point to book her spot in the second round, where she will meet Elise Mertens of Belgium.
Ben Knapton
