Gritty Saketh Myneni goes down fighting in US Open first round

Despite putting up a valiant fight, Indian tennis player Saketh Myneni narrowly lost to Jiri Vesely of Czech Republic in a hard-fought men's singles first round contest at the US Open.

The 28-year-old from Andhra Pradesh was beaten 6-7, 6-4, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 in a gruelling encounter that lasted three hours and 47 minutes at Flushing Meadows.

Despite leading 5-2 in the decisive set, the match took a toll on a physically exhausted Saketh as he had started limping due to cramp and was unable to put any real power behind his serve.

Vesely, on the other hand, didn't waste any more time to seize the opportunity as he broke Saketh's serve at 5-3 before holding onto his serve to make it 5-5 in the next game and win the match eventually with his first match point.

Saketh, who produced an imperious form to qualifying for the main draw, was playing in a Grand Slam tournament for the first time and would have faced world number one Novak Djokovic in the second round if he had got past the Czech opponent.