Lloyd Glasspool and Julian Cash, Great Britain’s top-ranked duo, experienced an unexpected elimination in the opening round of the US Open.
The tandem, recently distinguished as the first all-British team in 89 years to secure the Wimbledon men’s doubles title, faced a 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-4) defeat against the American-Austrian team of Robert Galloway and Alexander Erler.
Cash and Glasspool had previously triumphed in four out of the six most recent tournaments they participated in since the French Open, including a victory in Toronto earlier this month.
However, the pair exhibited signs of weariness as they succumbed to a loss after two closely contested sets.
In other matches, British sixth seeds Neal Skupski and Joe Salisbury comfortably advanced with a 6-3 6-4 victory over the American team of George Goldhoff and Reese Stalder.
Briton Luke Johnson and his Dutch teammate Sander Arends, seeded 13th, emerged victorious in their first-round match with a 6-2 6-4 win against the Italian-Hungarian duo of Mattia Bellucci and Fabian Marozsan.
In the women’s doubles competition, Katie Boulter and Sonay Kartal progressed to the second round, securing a 6-1 5-7 7-6 (10-5) victory against China’s Tang Qianhui and American Sabrina Santamaria.
The British players, who had previously concluded their respective singles campaigns in the first round, held a match point at 5-3 in the decisive set, but a tense service game from Boulter altered the course of the match, ultimately requiring a tie-break for the pair to claim victory in a captivating contest.
