Frank Dancevic of Niagara Falls, Ont., made a quick exit from the U.S. Open, losing his opening-round match in straight sets to No. 18 Nicolas Almagro of Spain on Wednesday afternoon in New York.
Almagro broke Dancevic at 5-5 in the third set, then served out for a 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 win.
"I played terrible today, there are no excuses," said Dancevic, 23, who is ranked 146th in the world. "There are no words to describe how badly I played."
Dancevic's defeat means there are no Canadians left in the singles draws of the tennis season's final Grand Slam tournament.
Aleksandra Wozniak of Blainville, Que., lost her women's opening-round match in straight sets Monday to No. 23-seeded American Lindsay Davenport.
Stephanie Dubois of Laval, Que., and Marie-Eve Pelletier of Repentigny, Que., failed to get past the women's qualifying rounds, while Frederic Niemeyer of Deauville, Que., and Toronto's Peter Polansky fell in men's qualifying.
Wozniak and Toronto's Daniel Nestor are awaiting the start of doubles play.
Wozniak will team with South African teammate Natalie Grandin in women's doubles, while Nestor is entered in men's doubles with Serbian teammate Nenad Zimonjic, and in mixed doubles with Chia-Jung Chuang of Taiwan.
Dancevic has lost four of his five matches since reaching the semifinals of the Newport, R.I., International Series event in early July. He was eliminated in the opening rounds in Indianapolis and the recent Beijing Olympics, with a second-round loss in Toronto in between.
Dancevic said he's unsure how to plan a fall schedule to earn the roughly 150 ATP ranking points he needs reach the top 100. Dancevic came into the U.S. Open ranked 101st in the 2008 ATP race.
"I can't get into ATP events, so I may have to just play [lower-level] Challengers," he said. "I have to try and get my game together, but I don't know if it's me, the coaching or what.
"This match looked like I was crushed, but it wasn't quite like that. I'm struggling and I don't know how to get out of it right now."
With files from the Canadian PressOverbay blast bolsters Blue Jays
Lyle Overbay's home run to right field on Thursday helped the Toronto Blue Jays salvage a win in their three-game home series with the Los Angeles Angels.
Jays look to Litsch to keep modest streak alive
The Jays will aim for their fourth straight win and attempt to build on a 19-inning shutout streak when they face the Mariners Tuesday in the second game of a three-game set at Safeco field.
Ducks ink Montador to 1-year deal
Free agent defenceman Steve Montador has signed a one-year deal with the Anaheim Ducks.
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