Mark Lajal loses again to Arthur Cazaux, this time in US Open qualifier
Mark Lajal lost his US Open qualifier round one to Arthur Cazaux 6:4, 6:1, Lajal's second loss to the French player this month.
Lajal, ranked a career high 147th in the world at the moment, had recently lost to Cazaux, 75th in the world, at the Cincinnati ATP 1000 category tournament despite winning the first set. After rain disturbed play, the pair reconvened the next day in Cincinnati, only for the Frenchman to convincingly take the second and third sets.
Lajal had his serve broken in game four, soon going down 5:4 though broke Cazaux in game nine. However, with the score 5:4 to the French player, Lajal was unable to hold his serve and so lost the set, which took 42 minutes to complete at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Lajal's earlier resistance fizzled out in set two: The Estonian won only one point in his first two service games, and managed to win only six of the 26 points played in the second set, going down 6:1.
The U.S. Open main draw matches start on Sunday.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Anders Nõmm
