Britain’s Samuel wins first Grand Slam match as Norrie loses on opening day of US Open

Britain’s Toby Samuel won his maiden Grand Slam match after an impressive straight sets victory while Cameron Norrie lost on the opening day of the US Open.

Samuel, who came through three rounds of qualifying, stunned former top 20 player Tomas Machac 6-2 6-3 6-2 in just 90 minutes with a superb display of serving and groundstroke hitting.

The win means Samuel will move into the top 100 on the ATP rankings and he will play 18th seed Jiri Lehecka, another Czechia player, in the next round on Wednesday

“I’m so tired – but otherwise I’m so happy to have got the job done there,” Samuel told Sky Sports Tennis.

“I played a great match – I’m just so thankful to everyone that has supported me to this moment, and hopefully I can carry on into next week.

“The first two sets I wasn’t missing any balls. In the third, he came out a bit stronger – I had a little dip in the first few games, but I came out of it quickly. I’m just going to try and do exactly what I did today in the next match.”

Samuel was a clear step above Machac for most of the match with early breaks in the first and second set enough to take a quick two sets lead.

The 23-year-old barely made any unforced errors and was not threatened on serve until the start of the third set, when he was broken, but he won six consecutive games to break his winless Grand Slam duck.

More to follow…