Alex De Minaur Stunned by Lloyd Harris in the First Round of Japan Open 2019

Published 10/02/2019, 3:36 AM EDT

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Zhuhai Open 2019 champion and eighth-seeded Alex De Minaur knocks out of the Rakuten Japan Open 2019 as Lloyd Harris ousts him in a thrilling three-setter 6-3, 7-6, 7-6 in the first round in Tokyo on Wednesday.

With this victory, Harris leaves the bottom half of the draw open as Alex De Minaur was the last seeded player left in the second half.

Set One

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The two players held their opening service game quite comfortably. In the third game, Alex De Minaur missed a breakpoint opportunity on Lloyd Harris’s serve. On the other hand, Harris took full advantage of his first breakpoint chance as he broke the Australian to get a lead of 3-1.

The set did not see a single breakpoint after the 4th game as both the players strongly held their serve. The break of De Minaur’s helped the South African to clinch the first set 6-3 in 39 minutes.

Set two

Lloyd Harris further increased his level in the second set as he troubled De Minaur in his opening service game, earning a breakpoint opportunity but saved it to hold a crucial game. The two players then held their service games till 6-6, forcing the set to go through the tiebreaker.

Lloyd Harris was in full control in the second set tiebreaker as he won three consecutive points and two mini-breaks to get a lead of 5-3. However, the South African lost two points on his serve to give a set point to De Minaur. Harris then went on to save the set point before losing the tiebreaker 6-8, forcing the match to the decider.

Set three

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The two players held their serves strongly without facing a single breakpoint till 5-5. De Minaur then squandered a breakpoint opportunity in the next game. The deciding set forced to go through the second tiebreaker of the match.

Lloyd Harris managed to control the final set tiebreaker as he saved two match points to win the tiebreaker 10-8 and wrapped up the match after nearly 3 hours of tennis.

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He will face the winner between John Millman in the second round of Tokyo Open 2019. Earlier, Millman defeated Adrian Mannarino in the first round on Wednesday.

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Written by:

Varun Khanna

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Starting off as a tennis author in 2018, Varun Khanna has gone on to contribute to EssentiallySports in various capacities. After setting up interviews with the likes of Serena Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou, Alizé Cornet, and Noah Rubin, Varun is now part of all major ATP and WTA press conferences and has gone on to pen more than 1300 articles for EssentiallySports. He now heads the tennis and NBA division of the organization.
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