Painful US Open exit for Edmund

A CRAMP-STRICKEN Kyle Edmund fell in the first round of the US Open, losing 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-1 to Italian veteran Paolo Lorenzi.

The 36-year-old has a good record in New York having taken a set off Andy Murray in the third round in 2016 before reaching round four last year, but this still looked a good draw for Edmund, now a solid top-20 player and the 16th seed.

The British No.1 has not shown the form he would have liked on the North American hard courts, winning only three matches in four tournaments, but had the better of three straight breaks of serve to start the match before taking the first set. But, gradually, Lorenzi and the punishingly hot and humid conditions began to get the better of Edmund. He was broken to lose the second set and the same thing happened in the third, this time from 40-0.

By now, cramp had started to set in and Edmund called the trainer for some salt tablets. He was struggling to move, though, hopping around on the baseline as his calves tightened.

Lorenzi was not about to let him off the hook and Edmund did not win a game until 5-0 in the fourth set as he suffered a first-round loss at a slam for the first time since Wimbledon 2016.

Stan Wawrinka defeated Grigor Dimitrov in the first round for the second successive grand slam.

The result came as a surprise at Wimbledon, with Wawrinka struggling after returning from knee surgery.

But that has been the catalyst for an upturn in form and, with eighth seed Dimitrov having a poor season, the Swiss’s 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 win was more predictable.