Emma Raducanu claimed she is targeted by top players after suffering a 62-minute defeat to Elena Rybakina to crash out of the US Open. The British No.2 set new records for her quickest Grand Slams in her opening two rounds against qualifiers.

But the 2021 champion here set a new unwanted mark for her most rapid defeat when she went down 6-1 6-1 to the No.9 seed.

Raducanu, 22, has still to beat a top-ten player in a Grand Slam. And this season she had previously lost to to Iga Swiatek (6-1 6-0 in Melbourne and 6-1 6-2 in Paris ) and Sabalenka (7-6 6-4) at Wimbledon.

Asked if she felt she had a target on her back because of her history and top stars want to play their best tennis against her, the world No.36 said: “Yeah, big time. I think when the very top play against me, they have a point to prove that they’re at the top, and they’re there for a reason. I think every time I’ve played one, they’ve kind of shown that.

“So I think at the same time while I’m improving, doing better, gaining maybe some more respect around, I think yeah, the top have definitely raised their game.

“But I’ll take that as a compliment that they’ve decided to really lock in against me, but at the same time it does show I have a lot more work to do.”

Rybakina made only 47% of first serves but won 86% of those points and did not face a break point. She hit 23 winners against only eight by Raducanu whose serve was broken four times, including in her first service game as she fell 0-3 down and never recovered.

“To be honest, I think when these top players are playing really well, it’s difficult. I think every time I’ve played Iga and Elena, they’ve played unbelievable. So I think that’s difficult for sure to play against,” Raducanu added.

“I think when you’re playing Elena, she has a great serve, of course. Second serve coming in quick and high as well. Return comes back faster. Like you’ve barely landed from your serve, and it’s back on the baseline.

“Then, yeah, the ball just comes through really, really fast, and you feel like you just don’t really have any time, you know, to create anything, so it’s just constant pressure.

“Then I think when you feel in that way a shorter ball or a ball that is usually normal for you, you feel more pressure to kind of execute, and then that’s when you maybe make some errors that you don’t. So I think that’s probably the biggest tell.”

Raducanu appointed Francis Roig after a brief trial before the Cincinnati Masters and now have had two tournaments – and five matches together.

“Right now we’re working through to the end of the year,” she said. “I’m looking forward to just getting back to work really. It’s only been three weeks, but I think it’s been a pretty successful three weeks in a sense that we’ve made good improvements.

“I think there are certain parts of my game which have gotten better for sure. Today, you know, my weaknesses were highlighted, but I think it’s only been three weeks, and he can’t really work miracles, you know. So I know we’re doing good work, and I just look forward to continuing.”