Lloyd Harris has crashed out of the ongoing Wimbledon tournament after suffering a four-set loss (5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 3-6) to Gregoire Barrere in the first round on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old South African headed to SW19 on the back of reaching the final of the Mallorca Open where he lost to Christopher Eubanks.
Harris took a 2-0 lead in the first set after breaking Barrere in the first game. The French man however broke him in the 10th and 12th game to take the set 7-5.
Both players broke each others serve twice in the second set before Barrere had three set points in the 12th game which Harris saved to level the set 6-6 and force a tie break which he won 7-6.
Harris was unable to force another tie break in the third set as Barrere broke him in the 11th game to take the set 7-5 before breaking him twice in the fourth and final set in 38 minutes.
In other men’s singles results on Wednesday, 10th seed American-Sierra Leonean Frances Tiafoe dispatched China’s Yibing Wu in his first round match in straight sets 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 6-4.
It's a battle on No.3 Court ????????@FTiafoe takes a tight opening set tie-break against Wu, 7-6(4) #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/zT2BG63O7J
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 5, 2023
The first set took almost an hour with both players breaking each others serve back-to-back in the second and third game. Tiafoe was however able to reign supreme in the tie break. While the second set was straightforward for Tiafoe, the final set was a nervy one with each player breaking their serves consecutively. Tiafoe however struck the decisive blow in the ninth game get to serve for the set and win.
Wimbledon defending champion and favourite Novak Djokovic had to work hard against Australian Jordan Thompson but still won in straight sets 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 to move into the third round. It was the 350th Grand Slam win for the 23-time major champion.
Achievement unlocked ????
Novak Djokovic's 350th Grand Slam match win! ????#Wimbledon | @DjokerNole pic.twitter.com/Qv0yilhPUm
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 5, 2023
There were some epic five set battles, the most notable being Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas’ 3-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (10-8) victory over Austrian Dominic Thiem which took nearly four hours. Ninth seed American Taylor Fritz also needed five sets to get past Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann 6-4, 2-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.
There were straight set wins for top 10 seeds Daniil Medvedev, Holger Rune and Jannik Sinner.
On the women’s side, the African-American duo of Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys recorded comfortable victories over Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson (6-2, 6-3) and British Sonay Kartal (6-0, 6-3) in their respective first round matches.
✍️ The next generation watch and admire @Iga_Swiatek ☺️#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/CNgFcpMpCq
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 5, 2023
Women’s world number one Iga Swiatek also had an easy tie against Sara Sorribes Tormo in the second round, winning the Spaniard 6-2, 6-0 in an hour and 10 minutes for a place in the last 32.
