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SA’s Harris suffers heavy Australian Open defeat
Jan 15, 2019Cape Town – South Africa’s Lloyd Harris suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Russia’s Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open first round on Tuesday.
The 21-year-old Harris, who qualified for the main draw, was beaten 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 by the 15th-seeded Russian.
Harris, who is ranked 119th on the ATP Tour rankings, was playing in his second main draw of a Grand Slam, having also participated in last year’s US Open, where he lost in the first round to Frenchman Gilles Simon.
Medvedev, who boasts three ATP Tour titles, was far too strong for Harris, breaking the South African’s serve seven times and hitting 27 winners.
Harris himself hit 22 winners but made 39 unforced errors compared to the 13 of Medvedev.
South Africa’s other participant in the men’s singles, No 5-seed Kevin Anderson, won his first round match on Monday when he beat Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in four sets. Anderson next plays America’s Frances Tiafoe in the second round on Tuesday.
In the men’s doubles, South Africa’s Raven Klaasen and his New Zealand doubles partner Michael Venus will open their campaign against America’s Bradley Klahn and Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin.
Klaasen and Venus are the sixth seeds.
