Some days, the mind and body just aren’t in sync. For Milos Raonic, Wednesday was one of those days at Flushing Meadows.

The fifth-seeded Canadian conceded stress and cramps were a significant factor in falling 6-7(4), 7-5, 7-5, 6-1 to American Ryan Harrison in the US Open second round. It is the first time Harrison has progressed as far at a major, while it marks the first time this season Raonic has failed to reach the fourth round at a major.

“I was my own worst enemy today,” Raonic said. “I tried the best I could to find my way out of it. My body didn’t let me. It was numerous things: the left arm; right forearm there towards the end of the third; both quads; a little bit hip flexor on the left.”

The Canadian finished with 18 aces but threw in an uncharacteristic 15 double faults. He won just 67 per cent of first-serve points to Harrison’s 74 per cent and was brought undone by 62 errors, almost double his opponent’s.

“I think I hesitated at the beginning. I forced a little bit. I wasn’t moving that well. Then later on, a bunch of those were sort of out of my hand,” Raonic said of the error count. “There were points there that I could barely hold the racquet. I was just sort of trying to get through, either hope it subsides after a certain amount of time or gets better. It just didn’t happen.

“I can’t remember a single time where I’ve lost a match because of cramping.”

In a breakout year for the Canadian, expectations were high after reaching his maiden Grand Slam final at Wimbledon. Still, he was adamant he had not piled too much of that pressure on himself.

“I think I put it on myself the same way in London,” he said. “I think I put it on myself the same way the beginning of the year in Australia. I believe a lot in myself. I try to get the most out of every single time, out of all the important tournaments.

“Now I have a bunch of tournaments left to play with specific goals in mind of what I would like to do for the rest of the year. I’m going to try to get every inch out of maximising that as well.”

Despite the loss, Raonic remains in strong contention to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Coming into the US Open he was third in the Emirates ATP Race To London with 4,375 points, 1,845 points clear of ninth-placed Tomas Berdych. The Top 8 finishers in the Race qualify for the season finale, to be held 13-20 November at The O2.

American qualifier Ryan Harrison claimed the biggest win of his career Wednesday when he upset fifth seed Milos Raonic 6-7(4), 7-5, 7-5, 6-1 at the US Open. Harrison played inspired tennis and took advantage of an ailing Raonic, who struggled with his court movement.

Harrison had a 1-26 record against Top 10 opponents before today, with his lone win coming over then World No. 10 Grigor Dimitrov in Acapulco in 2015.

Levelling the match at one-set all after converting his seventh set point, Harrison looked a long way from victory when Raonic broke him in the first game of the third set. But the Canadian seemed in less than perfect fitness and handed back the break in the eighth game, when he served three double faults. Soon after Raonic served two more double faults and missed an overhead to drop serve and hand Harrison the set.

In the fourth set, this year’s Wimbledon finalist began to labour even more with his court movement, with Harrison remaining strong in warm conditions to claim the victory.

It was a poor serving day for the Canadian, who threw in 15 double faults, and won just 67 per cent of the first serves he put into play. He also paid the price for converting just three of 19 break point chances. He also made nearly twice as many unforced errors (62 to 33) than Harrison as he delivered a high-risk groundstroke bombardment, crushing flat forehands and backhands with little margin for error.

But take no credit away from Harrison, who took the fight to Raonic with 23 forehand winners and 10 backhand winners, including a number of key backhand passes when Raonic was at net. He also handled the warm conditions better and looked fresh despite the first three sets lasting 3 hrs. and 11 mins.

Harrison next meets former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis, a 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 winner over Frenchman Benoit Paire.

Defending US Open champions Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut finished strongly as they opened their 2016 Flushing Meadows campaign with a 7-6(8), 6-1 victory over Americans Mackenzie McDonald and Martin Redlicki on Wednesday in New York.

The top-seeded French duo won their first Grand Slam title 12 months ago at the US Open before winning their second major trophy at Wimbledon this year. They have already secured their place at the year-end Barclays ATP World Tour Finals this season after also winning three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles in Indian Wells, Miami and Monte-Carlo, as well as lifting the trophy at The Queen’s Club.

However, another all-French duo did not fare so well. Eleventh seeds Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin, whom Herbert and Mahut defeated in the Wimbledon final, were beaten in the first round by Brazilians Thomaz Bellucci and Marcelo Demoliner, 7-6(4), 6-3.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Nick Kyrgios, Feliciano Lopez, Kevin Anderson and Grigor Dimitrov are all set to compete at the inaugural Chengdu Open, from 24 September to 2 October.

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The ATP World Tour 250 tournament, which offers $947,735 in total prize money, will be held at the Sichaun International Tennis Centre, which has a 6,000-seater Centre Court and has previously hosted events on the ATP Challenger Tour and ATP Champions Tour.

“On behalf of the entire tournament team and all our valuable partners with special emphasis on the Chengdu city leadership, the CTA [Chinese Tennis Association] and ATP World Tour, we take this early opportunity to thank the many parties who joined forces with total positivity, to create the inaugural Chengdu Open in such a short period of time,” said Tournament Director Nick Freyer.

The Chengdu Open is one of five tournaments on the ATP World Tour’s Asian Swing, including the Shenzhen Open, China Open, Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships and Shanghai Rolex Masters.

Andy Murray gave Lukas Rosol no room to breathe in a comprehensive 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 first-round victory at the US Open on Tuesday. The Czech was a tricky opening draw for the No. 2 seed, having overpowered Rafael Nadal in the second round at Wimbledon in 2012. However, Murray gave Rosol nothing to work with and prevailed in under two hours.

“He had a few chances the first couple of service games and came out going for his shots,” Murray said. “I got through that tricky period right at the start when he’s hitting the ball really well and kind of adjusted to the conditions. The arena is a lot louder than most places where we play, so you don’t hear the ball as much. There’s a slightly different sound in there. Once I got through that, I settled down and played a really good match.”

Murray, dressed in an intimidating all-black outfit, set the tone for the match by breaking Rosol after a long sixth game in the first set. The Czech was attempting to overturn a 0-2 deficit in his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry against Murray and looked to be the first to inject pace and change directions in baseline rallies. Murray used Rosol’s aggressiveness against him, restricting the 31 year old to 27 winners and forcing him to commit 45 unforced errors. Murray finished with the same number of winners, but made 28 fewer unforced errors.

Outmatched from the back of the court, Rosol also struggled on serve. He struck three aces and won only 32 per cent of second-serve points (11/34), while Murray fired 11 aces and won two-thirds of points on his second delivery (19/29). Murray did not face a break point in the match.

“Because of the roof, there’s literally no wind at all. It almost has a feel of playing indoors because there’s no wind. It’s perfect conditions to play in really,” Murray said. “I served very well tonight. I used good variation on the second serve. The first serve was very good. That’s something that I worked on a lot. When I serve well, the rest of my game tends to follow.”

The 2016 Wimbledon champion has reached seven consecutive tour-level finals dating back to April. He is now 51-7 on the year (21-4 on hard courts). Murray is 1,215 points behind Novak Djokovic in the Emirates ATP Race To London, and could take over top spot if he wins the tournament and if Djokovic fails to reach the final.

Next up for the 2012 US Open champion will be Spain’s Marcel Granollers, who beat Juan Monaco 7-6(5), 7-6(2), 6-4. Murray holds a commanding 6-1 lead in the pair’s FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry. His only loss to Granollers came when he retired with the match tied one set-all in Rome three years ago. The Brit has never lost a set on hard court to the 30 year old from Barcelona.