New York: Simona Halep said she was "not inspired at all" in Thursday's US Open loss to 116th-ranked American qualifier Taylor Townsend as her miserable run in New York continued.

The reigning Wimbledon champion saved a pair of match points but then failed to convert one in the final set of a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) defeat. "I was not inspired at all today, but I fought. I thought when I came back that I will take it and I will win it. But sometimes it goes the other way," Halep said, digesting another early Flushing Meadows exit following first-round losses in 2017 and 2018.