US Open: Katie Boulter suffers third-round defeat by American Peyton Stearns… as British No 1’s wait to reach the second week of a major goes on

Katie Boulter is still looking to make it to the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career after losing to one of the top products in the American college system.

The British number one went down 6-4 6-3 in 97 minutes to last year’s NCAA champion Peyton Stearns in a third round match that was postponed to the evening.

Playing on the same field 17 at Flushing Meadows where Emma Raducanu won in the same leg two years ago, Boulter struggled to contain the forehand power of the world No. 59, who was two places above her.

Aside from earning £151,000, Boulter’s victories in New York are likely to move her into world No. 50 after the tournament, but this was quite a draw to join her boyfriend, Alex de Minaur, in the last 16 of the US To be opened.

The highly mobile Stearns raced impressively to a 4-1 lead, but her level dropped afterwards and the 27-year-old from Leicestershire came back to 4-4 and was then 30-30 to her opponent’s serve.

The 21-year-old Stearns won the match in straight sets after beating Boulter 6-4 6-3 in 97 minutes

The former Texas Longhorn, who won the NCAA Championship last year, is ranked No. 59 in the world

That was as good as it gets for Boulter, who was broken in the next game after a couple of backhand errors.

At 2-3 in the second set, the British player served two double faults, breaking her with love. There was one last chance at 3-5 as she got two break points to get back on serve, but the 21-year-old American, a Texas former student, was able to close out the game.

That ended a largely disappointing day for the Brits, with Cam Norrie falling in straight sets and Dan Evans putting up quite a fight against Carlos Alcaraz.

Jack Draper, who played his fourth round on Monday, became the last Briton to stand at a Grand Slam for the first but undoubtedly not the last time.