Katie Boulter won just one game in 58 minutes Wednesday as Czech seventh seed Karolina Muchova dismantled the British number one 6-1, 6-0 in the second round of the US Open.
According to BBC Sport, the match was moved from an outer court to Louis Armstrong Stadium, which holds 14,000 spectators, after heavy rain in New York. The elevated setting did not help Boulter, who struggled from the opening game.
"Ultimately, it was a bad day at the office - times two," Boulter said after the match. "I struggled with the conditions. 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 serve collapsed under pressure. She hit eight double faults and no aces, won just 33% of points behind her first serve, and could not hold off any of the seven break points she faced. Her unforced error count reached 22 against just four winners.
Muchova, a two-time US Open semi-finalist, produced 14 winners and only nine unforced errors. She controlled rallies with smart drop shots and piercing groundstrokes and gave Boulter no foothold in the match at any point.
Former world number five Daniela Hantuchova was direct in her assessment on BBC Radio 5 Live. "I would be really humbled [if I was Boulter], I would sit down with my team and say 'OK, we need to change something big time,'" Hantuchova said. "First of all, 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. 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."
It was not only Boulter who struggled Wednesday. Fellow Britons Jacob Fearnley and Toby Samuel also failed to reach the men's third round, both losing to seeded players. Fearnley fell to Argentina's Tomas Martin Etcheverry, while Samuel lost to Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic. Francesca Jones was the bright spot for British tennis, completing a rain-delayed first-round win over Poland's Magda Linette after the match was interrupted Tuesday night. Jones had won the first set 6-4 before the stoppage.
Boulter, who is ranked 62nd in the world, has had just two wins across all four Grand Slam tournaments this season. Since a first-round exit at Wimbledon, she has won just two of six matches played. She married Australian world number seven Alex de Minaur in July.
