ATP Tour

Harris defeats countryman Norrie, improves fine Eastbourne record

British lucky loser Billy Harris continued his love affair with the Lexus Eastbourne Open on Tuesday when he defeated countryman Cameron Norrie 6-4, 6-4 to reach the second round.

Last year, Harris advanced to his maiden ATP Tour semi-final at the grass-court event, defeating then-World No. 49 Flavio Cobolli en route. Twelve months on and the 30-year-old outplayed Norrie to earn his first Top 100 victory since Cobolli. Harris will next meet Italian Mattia Bellucci.

Earlier, eighth seed Nuno Borges earned his second tour-level grass-court win with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 win against British wild card Jack Pinnington Jones. The Portuguese star has now recorded 20 tour-level wins for the second consecutive season and will next meet Jenson Brooksby. The American lucky loser defeated Francisco Comesana 7-6(6), 6-4.

Reilly Opelka survived a scare against British qualifier George Loffhagen to maintain his impressive grass-court season. The American fired 19 aces, according to Infoys ATP Stats, en route to a 7-6(6), 3-6, 7-6(1) victory in the pair’s first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting. Opelka reached the semi-finals in ‘s-Hertogenbosch earlier this month. The No. 72 in the PIF ATP Rankings meets #NextGenATP Czech Jakub Mensik in the second round.

Also on Tuesday, James Duckworth defeated Aleksandar Vukic 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-1 and Marcos Giron downed Luciano Darderi 6-4, 7-5. Home hope Jacob Fearnley raced past fifth seed Cobolli 6-2, 6-2 in just 65 minutes.

Watch Extended Highlights from Eastbourne Tuesday action: