Aljaz Bedene crashes out of US Open in the first round after straight-set defeat to Russian Andrey Rublev

• e-mail

Britain’s singles contingent at the US Open was reduced to two when went down to a straight sets defeat in his delayed first round match.

British number three Bedene, ranked 48 in the world, was beaten 6-1 6-4 6-4 in an hour and 42 minutes by 19 year-old Russian Andrey Rublev.

The Brit was competitive in the final two sets but was unable to break the Russian's serve.  

Aljaz Bedene lost against 19 year-old Russian Andrey Rublev in the first round of the US Open

Britain's number three lost the match in straight sets against Rublev, losing 6-1 6-4 6-4 

He was more competitive in the final two sets but the Russian proved too classy in the end

Bedene had played two clay court events and one hard court warm-up prior to the season’s final Grand Slam.

Rublev, 19, will now face a tough test against seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov in the second round of the competition.

Cameron Norrie became the second last British singles player to exit when the qualifier predictably came up short against the far more experienced number twelve seed Pable Carreno Busta, losing 6-2 6-4 6-3.

Bedene later spoke of a knee problem restricting him to one hour of practice per day, and he is set to have it scanned with the possibility of sitting out the forthcoming Asian tournaments to rest. 

His exit means Kyle Edmund and Cameron Norrie are the last two British survivors