Heather Watson has suffered a straight-sets defeat to Lauren Davis in the opening round of the US Open.
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The British number one battled gamely throughout, but she was second best on the big points and that allowed Davis to run out a 7-6 7-6 winner.
The opening five games passed without incident, but the second part of the first set was back and forth, with Watson squandering three break points in the sixth game before giving Davis the chance to serve for the set.
However, at both 5-4 and 6-5 down, Watson struck back to force a tie-break, but the American responded to take it 7-3 to conclude a set that had lasted 65 minutes.
Watson soon fell behind in the second, but she showed her resolve to get back to 3-3, before capitalising on two double faults from Davis to give herself a chance to serve for the set.
Davis immediately hit back, though, and after the set progressed to another tie-break, the American prevailed without dropping a point to leave Watson still searching for her first win at Flushing Meadows.
Darren Plant
