SA’s Lloyd Harris beats French veteran at Halle grass event | Sport

Lloyd Harris. (Photo by Christian Kaspar-Bartke/Getty Images)

South African tennis ace Lloyd Harris won his opening match at the Halle grass court event on Tuesday, beating French veteran Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-4.

The 24-year-old Capetonian was sublime on his own serve, hitting six aces and never facing a break point. He broke world No 16 Monfils’ serve once in each set to advance in one hour and eight minutes.

Harris, the current world No 51, next faces either Guido Pella of Argentina or Lukas Lacko of Slovakia.

There are some big names in action at this week’s ATP 500 level event in Germany, including 10-time champion from Switzerland Roger Federer, top-seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev and third seed and home hope Alexander Zverev.

Meanwhile South Africa’s other singles player, Kevin Anderson, lost his opening match at a Challenger event in Nottingham, England on Tuesday.

Anderson, currently down at No 101 in the ATP rankings, was beaten 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 by American Denis Kudla in the first round.

Anderson played a Challenger at the same venue last week where he lost 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (11/9) to Romanian Marius Copil in the quarter-finals.

The Challenger circuit is the second tier of men’s professional tennis, just below the ATP Tour.