Britain’s Harriet Dart comfortably advanced to the second round of the US Open on Monday with a straight-sets win over Chloe Paquet, but her compatriot Jan Choinski suffered a heartbreaking five-set defeat on his main draw debut at Flushing Meadows.
Dart, the British number 3, won 6-2, 6-1 against her French opponent and showed a new strength in her service games, which have traditionally been a weakness for the 28-year-old.
Due to Choinski’s epic performance, their match started later than expected and the British men’s number 10 narrowly lost to Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena.
Choinski secured his first-ever main draw spot by winning three qualifying matches, but it looked like his stay would not last long after a series of unforced errors left him two sets down.
An impressive recovery followed and Choinski had five break points at the start of the fifth set. However, he was unable to convert any of them and Carballes Baena took advantage with a break of his own in the next game, which proved to be the decisive blow.
“All in all, I am happy with my performance in this game and I can certainly build on that in the future,” said Choinski.
Several other Britons will begin their campaign in New York on Tuesday, including Katie Boulter, Emma Raducanu, Jack Draper and Dan Evans.
