Boulter crushed 6-1 6-0 by Muchova in US Open second round

Katie Boulter won just one game in 58 minutes as Karolina Muchova dumped the British number one out of the US Open second round.

British number one Katie Boulter was knocked out of the US Open second round in barely under an hour on Wednesday, taking just a single game as Czech seventh seed Karolina Muchova ran out a 6-1 6-0 winner in 58 minutes.

The contest lasted less than an hour at Flushing Meadows and was one-sided from the start. Boulter, the world number 62, described the loss as "a bad day at the office - times two" and admitted the surroundings had thrown her off her game.

The match had been moved indoors to the 14,000-seat Louis Armstrong Stadium after heavy rain swept across New York, having first been listed for one of the outer courts. Spectators who thought they had earned a bonus third contest on their day-session tickets saw the shortest of encounters.

"I struggled with the conditions," Boulter said. "I struggled with the roof, the noise, I let things distract me. I let it get to me. I'm not usually aware of everything going on. It made me feel a little bit uncomfortable. I have to deal with it better."

Boulter's delivery was the clearest weakness. The 30-year-old served eight double faults, managed no aces and won only 33% of the points behind her first serve. She was broken every time she was threatened, failing to save any of the seven break points she faced. Her tally read 22 unforced errors against just four winners.

Muchova, runner-up at Wimbledon this summer, was sharp by comparison, striking 14 winners for only nine unforced errors. She mixed clever drop shots with heavy groundstrokes to keep her opponent constantly stretched.

Hantuchova urges a rethink

Former world number five Daniela Hantuchova, speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, said the result should prompt Boulter to reassess her approach. "I would be really humbled, I would sit down with my team and say 'OK, we need to change something big time'," she said.

Hantuchova pointed straight to the serve. "It was very obvious today that it was the serve. I feel like it needs to be cleared up because she was losing the rhythm and not using her legs. That's the number one thing," she added. "If I am Boulter, I would be on the practice court tomorrow. If she still wants to invest everything into her tennis then she needs to be on the court."

The defeat capped a lean run of results. Boulter has claimed only two wins across this year's four Grand Slam tournaments, and since her first-round exit at Wimbledon she has won just two of six matches. The summer has been happier away from the court: she married Australia's Alex de Minaur, the world number seven, in July.

Fearnley out, Jones through

There was more British disappointment as Jacob Fearnley also missed out on a place in the third round. He went down 6-3 6-3 3-6 6-3 to Argentina's Tomas Martin Etcheverry, recovering to take the third set before losing the fourth.

Francesca Jones offered a brighter note. She completed a first-round win over Poland's Magda Linette, ranked 82nd, after the match had been suspended by rain on Tuesday night. Jones had taken the opening set 6-4 before play was halted.

When the players returned on Wednesday, it was Linette who looked the fresher, sprinting to a 5-0 lead and sealing the second set in 28 minutes. Jones admitted the stop-start nature of the contest had tested her. "I've never been quite in this position so I was nervous with how I'd quite feel," she said. Jones, who won her maiden Grand Slam match at the French Open earlier this year, held on to advance.

Katie Boulter, Karolina Muchova, US Open, British tennis, Jacob Fearnley, Francesca Jones, Alex de Minaur, Grand Slam