Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov fell in the first round of the Madrid Open on Monday after losing in three sets to South African Lloyd Harris.
Harris, who beat World No. 4 Dominic Thiem and Denis Shapovalov en route to the final in Dubai in March, pulled off another upset by ousting Dimitrov 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5).
The World No. 54 held off a late fightback from 13th seed Dimitrov, who saved three match points in the final set before breaking back to force a tie-break. “It was an up and down match, I had a set and a break, then I was a break up in the third too,” said Harris. “I got a little bit nervous at the end, but I was happy to close it out.”
Two-time quarterfinalist John Isner battled past Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic 6-4, 7-6(6) while 11th seed Shapovalov defeated another Serbian Dusan Lajovic 6-1, 6-3.
In doubles, Rohan Bopanna and Shapovalov got past Marc Lopez and Jaume Munar 7-6(4), 6-4 in the first round. The Indo-Canadian pair will challenge the top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah of Colombia in the pre-quarterfinals.
Kvitova made to sweat
In the women’s draw, Petra Kvitova, the champion in 2011, 2015 and 2018, had to work hard to beat Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 and reach the quarterfinals.
The results: Men (first round): John Isner bt Miomir Kecmanovic 6-4, 7-6(6); Aslan Karatsev bt Ugo Humbert 7-5, 6-4; Lloyd Harris bt Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5); Dominik Koepfer bt Reilly Opelka 6-4, 6-4; Daniel Evans bt Jeremy Chardy 7-6(6), 6-7(7), 6-2; Carlos Alcaraz bt Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 6-0.
Women (round-of-16): Petra Kvitova bt Veronika Kudermetova 6-3, 4-6, 6-4; Belinda Bencic bt Ons Jabeur 7-6(2), 4-3, retd.
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