Tennis
Harris suffers fourth first round defeat in a month─── MORGAN PIEK 08:04 Tue, 23 May 2023
South Africa's number one ranked men's singles tennis player, Lloyd Harris, has been knocked out in the first round of the Lyon Open in France.
On the weekend the 26-year-old Harris qualified for the event ahead of the French Open with back-to-back wins.
On Monday Harris was beaten in straight sets by the world number 89 from France, Arthur Rinderknech.
Rinderknech beat the South African 6-4, 6-2 for what is his fourth first round defeat in the last month.
The match in Lyon was also Harris’ first on the ATP Tour since March when he was beaten 6-4 and 6-3 by Matteo Arnaldi of Italy in the qualifiers of the Indian Wells Masters in California.
In January during the Australian Open in Melbourne Harris lost to Márton Fucsovics of Hungary in four-sets during the second round.
In the last week Harris dropped nine places in the ATP rankings and he will start the French Open ranked at 306th in the world.
Morgan Piek OFM Sport
