Brave Harris goes down in four sets to skilful Rublev
Lloyd Harris produced a courageous display before losing in four sets to Russian 17th seed Andrey Rublev in the first round of the French Open on Tuesday.
Rublev took two hours and 22 minutes to defeat the 28-year old Capetonian, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 on court 7, at Roland Garros.
Ultimately it was the Russian's greater match play and versatility that proved the difference against Harris, who underwent back surgery in October and has had limited match time at the highest level in 2025.
Harris will take great encouragement from his performance, especially how he hung with Rublev during the first three sets and especially in the second, when he came out on top in a few lengthy rallies.
The big serving South African will draw confidence from his exploits on the Paris clay as he prepares for the grass and hard court portions of the season over the next few months.
He beat two seeded players, including 2014 US Open champion, Marin Cilic to qualify for the year's second major, but received arguably the toughest draw of all those who qualified or earned a lucky loser spot, when he was paired with Rublev.
Though the Russian has struggled this year, illustrated by a 15-12 win/loss record ahead of the French Open, he has won one tournament in Doha — on hard court — and last week reached the final of the clay court event in Hamburg where he lost to Italian Flavio Cobolli. He hired two-time major champion Marat Safin as his coach in March.
After dropping his serve in the tenth game to lose the first set, Harris quickly recovered to break Rublev in the third game of the second. But that lead barely lasted with the talented Russian breaking back immediately.
Harris stayed strong however, winning a series of lengthy rallies in the latter half of the set, to tie the match at a set-a-piece.
Through some exciting exchanges at the start of the third, Harris again showed he was able to mix it with a top 20 player, but his lack of match play ultimately proved costly.
Rublev was able to step up his performance in the latter stages of the third set, and kept his foot on Harris's throat throughout the fourth set, though the South African was able to create four breakpoint opportunities in the fourth game.
But once Rublev had survived that mini crisis, Harris' resistance crumbled.
Rublev will face Australian Adam Walton for a place in the third round.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
TimesLIVE
an hour ago
- TimesLIVE
Boisson lights up French Open, Sinner advances to semis
Wild card Lois Boisson lit up the French Open on Wednesday when the home hope toppled sixth-seeded Russian Mirra Andreeva in straight sets to reach the last four, overshadowing men's world number one Jannik Sinner who cruised past Alexander Bublik. While Sinner stretched his Grand Slam winning streak to 19 matches after earning back-to-back titles at the US Open last year and the Australian Open in January, Boisson, ranked 361st at the start of the tournament, thrilled the home crowd with a dazzling performance. Sinner will face the winner between three-time French Open champion Novak Djokovic, hunting a record-breaking 25th singles Grand Slam, and Germany's third seed Alexander Zverev in the last four. Sinner, who beat Bublik in straight sets, is the first Italian man to reach six Grand Slam semifinals. The 23-year-old, who served a three-month doping ban before returning to action in Rome last month, raced through the first set after twice breaking the Kazakh, who had stunned fifth seed Jack Draper in the previous round. Lois Boisson's fairytale run continues, and that match against Andreeva makes it in our Extraordinary Moments of the day with @HaierOfficial ✨ #RolandGarros — Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 4, 2025 Looking to become the first man representing Kazakhstan to defeat a world number one, Bublik, who hit 37 drop shots against Draper, pulled out this weapon again in the second set. But Sinner broke and held to take it. Ever the entertainer, the 27-year-old Bublik delighted the crowd with an underarm serve but ultimately could do nothing to stop the Italian's march into the last four. Earlier Boisson became the toast of France after staging the tournament's biggest upset with a 7-6(6) 6-3 win over Andreeva, who had been tipped as a title contender, in an electrifying match that had the home crowd on the edge of their seats. The 22-year-old had stunned third seed Jessica Pegula in round four, but on Wednesday pulled off another major shock, beating Andreeva, who had not lost a set in the tournament. 'Every tennis player dreams of winning a Slam — and for a French player, Roland Garros even more so. I'll go for it because my dream is to win the final, not the semifinal,' Boisson said. UNSTOPPABLE 🔥 Sinner drops just six games 🆚 Bublik and books his ticket to the #RolandGarros semifinals! 🤌🇮🇹 — Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 4, 2025 Andreeva, the 18-year-old sixth seed who was bidding to become the youngest female player to reach back-to-back French Open semifinals in nearly three decades, quickly found herself chasing Boisson's fierce forehand. The underdog, who has been a breath of fresh air in the tournament with her no-nonsense power game and down-to-earth approach, looked to have run out of steam as Andreeva went 3-0 up but she proceeded to win the next six consecutive games. Andreeva repeatedly lost her temper and was handed a warning when she fired a ball into the stands in frustration. With the home crowd the loudest it had been since the start, chants of 'Lois, Lois' echoed across the Philippe Chatrier court, with the decibel level lifted even further because the roof was closed due to rain. Boisson, who will jump almost 300 places in the rankings next week, will face 2023 US Open champion Coco Gauff, who came out on top in an error-ridden quarterfinal against Australian Open champion Madison Keys with the pair littering the court with 101 unforced errors. With a total of 49 unforced errors in the first set alone they both struggled to hold serve and Gauff, a semifinalist in Paris last year, wasted a set point before Keys, who reached the French Open last four in 2018, edged ahead with a tiebreak win. Gauff, who reached the final here in 2022 and is the youngest woman to claim 25 main-draw wins at Roland Garros since Martina Hingis (1995-2000), bounced back to win the next two sets. 'So many unforced errors,' Gauff, who also had 10 double faults, said to herself after sinking another easy baseline shot into the net. 'I was just trying to be aggressive,' the 21-year-old Gauff said. 'Usually if you're playing too passive, in the end the more aggressive player is going to win. I knew in the second and the third that I had to try my best.'
Eyewitness News
an hour ago
- Eyewitness News
Wheelchair tennis star Kgothatso Montjane makes it to the Roland Garros quarter-finals
Palesa Manaleng 4 June 2025 | 13:50 Kgothatso Montjane French Open wheelchair tennis Wheelchair tennis player Kgothatso Montjane arrived to a hero's welcome at the OR Tambo International Airport on 15 July 2024 after winning the Wimbledon Women's Wheelchair doubles final with her partner, Yui Kamiji. Picture: Katlego Jiyane/EWN JOHANNESBURG – Wheelchair tennis star Kgothatso Montjane is through to the quarter-finals of the French Open at Roland Garros in Paris on Tuesday. The three-time semi-finalist on the red clay beat Macarena Cabrillana of Chile 6-3 6-3 to set up a contest against No4 seed Ziying Wang of China in the quarters. The five-time Paralympian was last at Roland Garros at the 2024 Paris Olympics Games, where she had to withdraw due to personal issues. She reached the semi-final at the French Open in 2013, 2021 and 2022. READ MORE: Roland Garros: Kgothatso Montjane grabs doubles Grand Slam US Open: Kgothatso Montjane claims second grand slam of the year Montjane secures a spot in French Riviera Open quarter-finals In doubles, Montjane will partner with Yui Kamiji, the 2023 Roland Garros champions, as they begin their campaign on Wednesday. Montjane was the first African wheelchair tennis player to compete at Wimbledon when she was handed a wild card for the Wimbledon Grand Slam tournament in London in 2018. In 2012, she made Wimbledon history by being the first black South African woman to reach the final at Wimbledon while reaching the doubles final as well. Montjane competed at her first Paralympics in Beijing (2008), then in London and Rio de Janeiro. In 2018, she became the first African wheelchair tennis player to compete in the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open in the same calendar year. Meanwhile, in the quads event, Donald Ramphadi kicks off his campaign today against Dutch second seed Sam Schroder.
eNCA
an hour ago
- eNCA
Top seed Sinner outclasses Bublik to reach French Open semis
Jannik Sinner booked himself a second consecutive semi-final appearance at Roland Garros on Wednesday with a typically ruthless straight-sets victory over unseeded Kazakh Alexander Bublik. The world number one cruised through his quarter-final match 6-1, 7-5, 6-0 in one hour and 49 minutes on Court Philippe Chatrier, and is still yet to drop a set at the French Open this year. The 23-year-old will next face either 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic or third seed Alexander Zverev for a place in Sunday's final. "I just tried to stay focused on my side of the court, so tried to stay as solid as possible because he (Bublik) can have ups and downs," said Sinner. "It was a good performance from my side... against these kind of players you have to be very consistent. "I'm very happy with how I've arrived in the semi-finals, semi-finals in Grand Slams are very special." World number two Carlos Alcaraz said his last-eight dismantling of Tommy Paul on Tuesday was in part "inspired" by Sinner and his time-sensitive approach to tennis over the last fortnight. Sinner has spent less than 10 hours on court through his first five matches as he has systematically taken apart his opponents for the loss of very few games. "He (Sinner) inspired me in some ways just to give my 100 percent every match and I see how important it is just to play such a great level in the whole match, just to have more time then to recover after the match," Alcaraz told reporters after his 94-minute win. And the Italian showed centre court just what his rival meant by wrapping up the first set in just over half-an-hour. Bublik, ranked 62, managed to get a foothold in the second set as he matched Sinner game for game through the majority of the frame, but never managed to force a break point and really put pressure on the Italian. Bublik then presented Sinner with his chance to secure a 2-0 lead with a double-fault when serving at 30-40 in the 11th game. Not known for his propensity to look a gift horse in the mouth, Sinner closed out the second set by holding the next game to love. He started the third by making it back-to-back breaks on Bublik's serve, before racing through the rest of the set and clinching the match at the first time of asking with a cross-court forehand. Sinner now leads Bublik 4-1 in their match-ups, with his only defeat coming when he was forced to retire injured when trailing the 27-year-old at Halle two years ago. "We've played a couple of times before so I knew a little what to expect but with him you never know what's happening," added Sinner of his unconventional opponent. By Neil Fulton
