Arthur Fery beaten by Ignacio Buse in Winston-Salem final

Arthur Fery was beaten 6-3 6-2 by Ignacio Buse in the final of the Winston-Salem Open in North Carolina on Saturday, his first ATP Tour final. The defeat denied the British 24-year-old his maiden tour title, but he will become British number one on Monday.

Fery arrived in Winston-Salem fresh from a run to the semi-finals at Wimbledon in July that captured attention, having been ranked outside the top 100 only eight weeks earlier. His rapid rise through the rankings helped set expectations for his debut appearance in an ATP final.

The match was tight early on before Buse seized momentum late in the first set, taking a break to love to move 5-3 ahead. Buse extended his control in the second set with a double break that Fery partially recovered from, but Fery’s response was insufficient as Buse won three consecutive games to close out the match.

For 22-year-old Ignacio Buse, the victory makes him the youngest ever winner of the Winston-Salem event and the second ATP title of his career. His previous tour-level triumph came in May when he defeated Tommy Paul at the ATP 500 tournament in Hamburg.

Fery will move up to 33 in the world rankings as a result of reaching the final, overtaking Cameron Norrie to become Britain’s top-ranked player. He was the first Briton to reach the final of this ATP 250 tournament in North Carolina.

With the Winston-Salem tournament concluded, Fery will head to New York for the US Open, which starts on Sunday, and will be playing at Flushing Meadows for the first time. He is one of nine British players set to feature in the main draws at the US Open; the men's entries include Norrie and Jan Choinski, qualifiers Toby Samuel and Harry Wendelken, and lucky loser Jacob Fearnley, while Katie Boulter is joined in the women's draw by qualifiers Fran Jones and Harriet Dart; Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu are absent through injury.

Fery’s immediate next engagement is the US Open opening-round match against Italian 13th seed Lorenzo Musetti at Flushing Meadows.