Anderson only South African left in the Australian Open singles draw after Harris ousted
Image: Greg Wood / AFP
After a gruelling qualifying schedule South Africa’s Lloyd Harris had no answers in the first round of the Australian Open‚ crashing out to Russian Daniil Medvedev in straight sets on Tuesday.
The 15th-seeded Medvedev thrashed the 21-year-old Capetonian 6-1 6-2 6-1 in just one hour 47 minutes.
It leaves No 5 seed Kevin Anderson as the only South African left in the singles draw.
Raven Klaasen though‚ along with American partner Michael Venus‚ are the No 6 seeds in the men’s doubles‚ which starts on Wednesday.
Harris‚ the world No 119 gave a nervy performance in only his second appearance at a Grand Slam‚ producing 39 unforced errors against the 13 from Medvedev.
Harris also struggled on serve and only won seven of 28 (25%) points on his second serve‚ which gave the Russian an easy ride through the match.
The final game of the contest was a microcosm of the entire match as Harris made four unforced errors on serve.
But it was a good experience for the up-and-coming Harris‚ who earned US$35500 (R495,000) as a first round loser.
He also qualified for the main draw of the US Open last September and is rapidly rising up the rankings after being ranked 291 in the world this time last year.
Medvedev‚ who made the ATP final in Brisbane earlier this month‚ is in good form and is certainly a dangerous floater in the draw.
In Brisbane Medvedev beat Andy Murray‚ Milos Raonic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on his way to the final before losing to Kei Nishikori.
The 22-year-old Russian will next meet American Ryan Harrison‚ who beat Czech Jiri Vesely 6-0‚ 7-5‚ 6-3 for his first win of 2019.
Harrison hit 20 aces and won 95 per cent of his first-serve points (40/42).