SA’s Lloyd Harris reaches maiden ATP final

South Africa’s Lloyd Harris reached a maiden final at ATP level after beating America’s Tommy Paul in Adelaide on Friday.

The 22-year-old rising tennis star won 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3 against the world No 90 to book his spot in Saturday’s showpiece match at the ATP 250-level event.

Harris, who made his way through qualifying in Adelaide, also notched impressive wins earlier in the week against Spain’s world No 30 Pablo Carreno Busta (6-3, 6-3), Chile’s world No 36 Christian Garin (7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-4) and Serbia’s world No 40 Laslo Djere (7-6 (7/5), 6-3).

First @atptour final for @lloydharris63!

Tops fellow Qualifier Paul 6-4 6-7(3) 6-3.#AdelaideTennis pic.twitter.com/frG6EmTLzs

— Adelaide International (@AdelaideTennis) January 17, 2020

In the final, Harris will play either second-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev or third-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Harris entered the match ranked 91st in the ATP rankings, but Friday’s win has seen his ranking surge to a career-high 72.

The South African also performed admirably at the ATP Cup last week, losing a tight match 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 3-6 to Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic, beating Chile’s Nicolas Jarry 6-4, 6-4, before going down to French veteran Gilles Simon 6-2, 2-6, 2-6.

Harris made great strides last year by qualifying for the main draws of all four Grand Slam events.

Selfie time for Adelaide’s new favourite player, @lloydharris63 #AdelaideTennis pic.twitter.com/Ywh7EAAzfP

— Adelaide International (@AdelaideTennis) January 17, 2020

He also won his first Grand Slam match at the French Open when he defeated Czech qualifier Lukas Rosol 6-1, 4-6, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 in a five-set classic at Roland Garros.

Next week, Harris will open his Australian Open campaign against 14th-seeded Argentine Diego Schwartzman.

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