Arthur Fery missed out on his first ATP Tour title with a straight-set defeat by Ignacio Buse in the final of the Winston-Salem Open.
Fery, who was the talk of Wimbledon as he reached the semi-finals of his home major in July, lost 6-3 6-2 to Peru’s Buse.
The 24-year-old was the first Briton to reach the final of the ATP 250 tournament in North Carolina and will rise to 33 in the world rankings as a result – overtaking Cameron Norrie as British number one.
Only eight weeks ago, before his astonishing run to the last four at the All England Club, he was ranked outside the top 100.
“Congratulations to you and your team, Ignacio, for your second title this year,” Fery said.
“I want to thank my team as well. It couldn’t be us today but thank you for everything you do for me. We have had a great year and hopefully we can finish strong.”
Little could separate Fery and Buse in the early stages of their match on Saturday, before the Peruvian took control with a break to love for a 5-3 lead.
Fery quickly fell further behind in the second set as Buse opened up a double break cushion with no reply, and while he pulled back one of those breaks, it proved to no avail as his opponent reeled off three straight games to seal the win.
For 22-year-old Buse, victory makes him the youngest ever winner of Winston-Salem and marks a second career title after he beat American Tommy Paul at the ATP 500 event in Hamburg in May.
“It is very special for me,” Buse said. “With all my team, we have been working very, very hard.
“Some things are very tough that we go through as tennis players, but I also want to congratulate Arthur and his team.”
With little time to reflect on his Winston-Salem run, Fery will now head to New York for the US Open, which starts on Sunday.
Set to play at Flushing Meadows for the first time, he faces a tough opening tie against Italian 13th seed Lorenzo Musetti.
Fery is one of nine British players set to feature in the main draws at the US Open, the final Grand Slam of the season.
Joining him in the men’s draw are Norrie and Jan Choinski, qualifiers Toby Samuel and Harry Wendelken, and lucky loser Jacob Fearnley.
Katie Boulter is joined by qualifiers Fran Jones and Harriet Dart in the women’s draw, but both Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu are missing through injury.
