JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s Lloyd Harris lost in straight sets to Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-2 6-2 6-3 in the first round of the men’s singles at the US Open, in New York, USA, on Monday.
The first set was a one-sided affair as the 21-year-old Harris struggled with his serve in his first grand slam appearance. Managing just 39 percent of first serves in during the set, did not help his cause as Harris lost the set 6-2 in quick time to the 40th-ranked player in the world.
The 145th-ranked men’s singles player Harris, however, showed more fight in the second set as he held serve to move the score to 2-2 after four games.
That included being down a number of break points in the fourth game, but he did well to hold his serve. That would be the last time Harris had a real chance in the match, as his next service game presented Simon with an easy break. In total, Simon - a former world number six - had 13 break points during the set and needed only two.
Harris made his way through three qualifying rounds to make it into the main draw of the US Open. Photo: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix
Although Harris broke the Simon serve for the first time during their clash in the third set, he could not avoid losing his own serve again and the 33-year-old Simon showed his experience to comfortably close out the match.
Harris made his way through three qualifying rounds to make it into the main draw, and will no doubt learn from his first experience at a major tennis event.