Cameron Norrie faced another disappointing early exit at the US Open, marking the end of a challenging summer at the grand slams. He fell to Luca Van Assche, an unheralded Frenchman, in the first round, continuing a trend that saw him unable to advance past the opening round at both the French Open and Wimbledon.

This defeat came on a particularly tough Sunday for the 31-year-old, as he also lost his status as British number one to Arthur Fery, who recently reached the final at Winston-Salem.

Norrie had hoped to find solace in his recent success at a padel tournament he won with friends during his stag do in Ibiza last month. Unfortunately, that was the only victory he could celebrate after succumbing to Van Assche with a score of 6-7 (6) 6-2 6-2 6-3.

During the match, Norrie notably shouted ‘allez’ as he battled through a tightly contested first set, which he managed to clinch in a tie-break. However, Van Assche quickly regrouped, dominating the following sets to secure his place in the tournament. Norrie now turns his focus to padel as he seeks to bounce back from this disappointing grand slam season.