Norfolk's Richard Bloomfield's hopes of qualifying for the US Open were dashed in the first round Wednesday when he lost to Czechoslovakia's Tomas Zib 7-6 (8-6) 7-5.

Norfolk's Richard Bloomfield's hopes of qualifying for the US Open were dashed in the first round Wednesday when he lost to Czechoslovakia's Tomas Zib 7-6 (8-6) 7-5.

Bloomfield had set point in the first set tie-breaker but was unable to resist Zib's determined recovery, then at 5-5 in the second set lost serve to leave Zib serving for the match.

Tomas Zib has a world ranking of 139 after hitting a career high last year of a 51, Bloomfield is currently ranked 226.