Lloyd Harris fires Dimitrov from the Mutua Madrid Open

Lloyd Harris has once again demonstrated at the Mutua Madrid Open why he is one of the revelations of the 2021 season. The South African tennis player, number 54 in the ranking and finalist in the Dubai tournament, gave one of the surprises of the day in the Madrid tournament after beating Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, thirteenth favorite for the title, by 6-3, 3-6 and 7 -6 (5) after two hours and 31 minutes of battle.

Harris was very solid on serve throughout the game and he showed it in the first set, where he managed to break Dimitrov's serve in the eighth game and then not fail with his serve and take the first set 6-3. In fact, the game was very expensive for the South African when he managed to get 2-1 and serve in the second set. However Dimitrov managed to react and chained two consecutive breaks that he consolidated with his serve to win the second set 3-6 and force the third and final set.

In the third set Harris managed another break in the fourth game and with 5-2 in favor he had up to three match balls to the rest, but he did not know how to take advantage of them. A fact that Dimitrov thanked, who got back into the game after breaking in the next game and then not failing with his serve and forcing the tie-break. In the tiebreaker, the Bulgarian was more imprecise and despite his defensive attempts, Harris did not miss the sixth match point to close the match. and the pass to the second round, where he will face Alex de Miñaur, who this Sunday defeated the Spanish Jaume Munar.

Isner and Karatsev do not fail

Less trouble went through John Isner and Aslan Karatsev to advance to the second round of the Mutua Madrid Open. Isner beat the Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic in two sets 6-4 and 7-6 (6) and awaits a rival in the match between Roberto Bautista and Marco Cecchinato. For his part Karatsev, semi-finalist in the Australian Open, champion in Dubai and finalist in Belgrade, He did not fail against Frenchman Ugo Humbert, whom he beat 7-5, 6-4. Karatsev will now face a tough nut to crack on clay, the Argentine Diego Schwartzman, seventh seeded … and who arrives wanting revenge after the defeat inflicted by the Russian in the past Australian Open. In the second round there will also be the German Dominik Koepfer, who survived the 14 direct aces of Reilly Opelka, whom he beat by a double 6-4, and is already waiting for a rival in the confrontation between Cristian Garín and Fernando Verdasco. The British Daniel Evans beat the French Jeremy Chardy in three sets, the first two highly contested (7-6 (6), 6-7 (7) and 6-2) and will face the Polish Hurkacz or the Australian Millman.

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