Cape Town - South Africa's Lloyd Harris, who last week qualified for the US Open for the first time, has lost in the opening round of the prestigious tournament in New York.
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The 21-year-old advanced to the main draw at the tournament after three dominant wins in qualifying but unfortunately went down 6-2, 6-2 and 6-3 to Gilles Simon of France in his first ever Grand Slam main draw match.
The 33-year-old Frenchman has a current singles ranking of 40 and used his experience to overcome Harris by putting his second serve under immense pressure.
South Africa's other hope at the tournament, Kevin Anderson, will take on Ryan Harrison of America in his opening match later on Monday.
Anderson, who reached the final at Flushing Meadows last year, boasts a 2-1 head-to-head win-record against world No 53 Harrison.
All three of their encounters were played on hard courts, with Harrison winning the most recent encounter 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (7/2) in Tokyo last year.
Anderson won 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) in Atlanta in 2013 and 7-6 (10/8), 6-4 in Stockholm in 2016.