THE CANADIAN PRESS
NEW YORK -- Canadian Frank Dancevic was at a loss to explain his opening-round exit from the U.S. Open on Wednesday.
The 23-year-old from Niagara Falls, Ont., dropped a 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 decision to 18th-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro.
"I played terrible today, there are no excuses," said Dancevic, 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 singles at the final Grand Slam event of the year.
Aleksandra Wozniak of Blainville, Que., lost her opening-round match in straight sets Monday to 23rd-seeded American Lindsay Davenport. Wozniak will play her first women's doubles match Thursday with partner Natalie Grandin of South Africa.
In men's doubles, Toronto's Daniel Nestor will take to the court Thursday with Serbian partner Nenad Zimonjic. Nestor will also take part in mixed doubles with Taiwan's Chia-Jung Chuang.
Dancevic has struggled since reaching the semifinals of the Newport, R.I., International Series in July. He has lost four of his five matches since then, having been dispatched in the first round of a tournament in Indianapolis as well as the recent Beijing Olympics while exiting in the second round of the Rogers Cup in Toronto last month.
Dancevic beat Croatian Mario Ancic, then ranked No. 24 in the world, in a first-round match in Toronto and played very well in a 6-4, 6-4 loss to No. 3 Novak Djokovic.
Dancevic is 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 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."
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