Tennis: Billy Harris misses out in Miami Open qualifiers

Former Island player defeated after heavily-delayed contest

Former Isle of Man tennis star, Billy Harris has been knocked out in the first round of this year's Miami Open qualifiers.

Competing in the men's singles qualifying phase, Harris suffered a straight sets defeat (6-7, 4-6) to Australian competitor and men's qualifying fourth seed, Aleksandar Vukic yesterday (17 March).

Whilst the match itself lasted just over two hours, there was a lengthy delay toward the end of the first set after rain suspended play.

Separately, this is the first time Harris has lost against Vukic having beaten him in the previous two meetings prior to that with the most recent of those two coming just over a week ago (10 March) at the ATP Challenger event in Phoenix, Arizona.

Meanwhile, the main draws for this year's Miami Open are getting underway today (18 March) with the UK represented in the men's singles by Jack Draper, Cam Norrie and Jacob Fearnley.

Elsewhere, Katie Boulter and Francesca Jones will lead the charge in the women's singles after both Emma Raducanu and Sonay Kartal withdrew from the event.