SA's Lloyd Harris suffers first-round defeat at the French Open

Lloyd Harris, South Africa's lone representative in the men's singles at the French Open in Paris, has been knocked out of the tournament in the first round.

Harris, who has struggled for form this season, went out in straight sets 7-6 (7/8), 7-6 (7/0) and 6-1 to 22nd seed Alexander Zverev of Germany.

Clay not being his favourite surface, Harris's best-ever result at the French Open was reaching the second round, which he had achieved for three consecutive years from 2019 to 2021.

His strongest performance at a Grand Slam event came at the US Open in 2021, when he lost, also to Zverev, in straight sets in the quarter-finals.

The 26-year-old is currently ranked 293rd in the world and attained his highest ranking of 31 in September 2021. 

Harris spent the last half of 2022 out of action with a wrist injury and only made his return to competitive tennis at the start of this year.

Not dissimilar to the South African, Zverev, who returned to competitive action in December, makes his return at the French Open a year after a horrible ankle injury during the semi-final against Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros derailed his 2022 season.