Lloyd Harris' losing streak extends to 5 in a row in 2022

South African tennis ace Lloyd Harris' horrid start to 2022 continued on Tuesday when he was beaten in the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships.

Harris, the world No 35, lost 3-6, 3-6 to Slovakian Alex Molcan.

Molcan, the world No 69, only got into the Dubai main draw as a lucky loser from qualifying.

Harris, 24, has now lost his fifth straight match to start 2022. He was beaten by South Korea's Soonwoo Kwon at the ATP event in Adelaide, lost to Australia's Aleksandar Vukic at the Australian Open, was eliminated by Bulgarian Ilya Ivashka in Rotterdam and Hungary's Marton Fucsovics in Doha last week.

The Capetonian had a stellar 2021 season - he reached a career-high ranking of 31 after reaching the US Open quarter-finals and there were also notable wins over former US Open champion, Dominic Thiem, in Dubai and the big scalp of 21-time Grand Slam champion, Rafael Nadal, in Washington.

But Harris' latest defeat will see him drop more points in the rankings as he reached the final in Dubai last year before losing to Russian Aslan Karatsev.

In an interview with Sport24 last month, renowned coach John-Laffnie de Jager predicted that the 2022 season would be a stern test of Harris' resolve.

De Jager, a former ATP pro and SA Davis Cup captain, said more players would have taken note of Harris after his breakthrough season.

"This is going to be Lloyd's tough year. He fared great last year and now he has to defend all his points, people have more of an idea how to play against him," De Jager said.

"But he's a great player and he did unbelievably well in 2021, but as is the case in any sport, your second year is your tough year because people have started to figure you out. It's not his second year on tour but this will be his