After the Wimbledon dream came Arthur Fery’s New York nightmare as the British No1 was knocked out of the US Open just over two hours after his debut by Lorenzo Musetti, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5.The British No1’s ranking was only a stone’s throw from receiving a seeded berth in Queens and he was badly punished, drawn against the world No14 who barely broke a sweat on a brutally humid afternoon.A downpour delayed the start of the match by about four hours, but did little to clear the thick cloud hovering low over Grandstand, the air sticky with heat. Fery’s shirt was soaked through inside the first game, and as the balls slowed in the humidity, the Briton struggled to find the line with his shotmaking.Fery’s best level came in the opening stages: six thoughtful games where he was able to put early pressure on Musetti with his variety. He put his particular faith in his game at the net, surging up to deliver a stream of drop shots and bulleted volleys.This was not without fault: more than once, Musetti exploited his willingness to surge forward with a chip that soared over his 5ft9’ frame and landed squarely in play. Even a tweener, struck between his legs after Fery motored back to the baseline, couldn’t save him in the second set.For the crowd, the early contest was good-looking. Like clever movement? Watch Fery slide up the court to stretch and delicately feed back a sliced volley. More into backhands? Marvel at Musetti’s, a one-handed holdout, struck down the line sumptuously to bring up set point in the first. Arthur Fery was unable to bypass Lorenzo Musetti on his US Open main draw debut The Italian has missed the last two majors due to injury but looked a cut above the British No1But the two men were only level for so long. Musetti missed the last two majors due to injury, but his stronger service game allowed him to remain a cut above Fery. When it dipped briefly in the second set, the Briton failed to pounce, squandering four break points with a string of nervous unforced errors. A late comeback in the third saw Fery claim two breaks of Musetti’s serve, but each one was chased by his own faltering service game. Fery’s code violation for audible obscenity as he went 6-5 down was understandable, at least.Catapulted into the top 40 just two months ago, Fery has close to zero experience managing his calendar. This week, he arrived as a Winston-Salem Open finalist, and his run of five consecutive matches two days before his first match in Flushing Meadows may have delivered a lesson about what he can handle before a Grand Slam. At this stage in his career, Fery has everything to learn. What Musetti has taught him will sting regardless.While Fery’s race is run in New York, qualifier Toby Samuel has his own chance to go toe-to-toe with a seed when he meets world No19 Jiri Lehecka on Wednesday. Ranked 1,871st in the world as recently as January 2025, victory against Lehecka’s fellow Czech Tomas Machac sent him into the top 100.‘I knew that I had the level to jump up and play here, but obviously not this fast,’ he said. ‘I’ve always believed in myself and obviously now it’s paid off.’Katie Boulter is another Briton hoping to avoid early Czech-out in the Big Apple with her match-up against Wimbledon finalist Karolina Muchova, while remaining first-round Brits Jan Choinski and Francesca Jones have seen their Tuesday matches delayed by rain.