NEW YORK: Emma Raducanu’s defense of her surprising 2021 U.S. Open championship ended with 6-3, 6-3 loss to Alizé Cornet in the first round on Tuesday night.

Raducanu is only the third woman to lose her opening match in New York a year after winning the title. The others were 2004 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and 2016 champion Angelique Kerber.

Raducanu dealt with blisters on her racket-holding right hand and took a medical timeout after the first set for treatment from a trainer.

She also was simply outplayed by Cornet, a 32-year-old from France who ended Iga Swiatek’s 37-match winning streak at Wimbledon.

A year ago, at age 18, Raducanu arrived at Flushing Meadows ranked 150th to participate in only the second major tournament of her nascent career. She wound up making it through qualifying and winning 10 matches in a row en route to becoming the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam title.

In 2022, she lost in the second round at each of the first three majors. Still, she was seeded 11th at the U.S. Open.