Lloyd Harris: US Open
Unseeded South African Lloyd Harris stormed into his first Grand Slam quarterfinal on Monday with a hard-fought 6-7(6) 6-4 6-1 6-3 victory over the giant American Reilly Opelka at the US Open at Flushing Meadows.
The 24-year-old Harris, whose previous best performance at a major was his run to the third round of the Australian Open earlier this year, will next face fourth seed Alexander Zverev for a place in the semifinals.
Harris won an incredible 92 per cent of his first-serve points, and smashed 36 aces and 62 winners.
The only service game he dropped was when he uncharacteristically served three double faults when serving for the first set.
In the 10th game of the second set, Harris held his nerve and broke Opelka to level the match and seize the initiative.
Harris is the first South African to reach the men's singles quarterfinals at the US Open since Kevin Anderson in 2017.
The 22nd seeded Opelka was the last American remaining in the men’s draw.
**update **
Lloyd Harris’ best ever performance in a Grand Slam came to an end on Wednesday when he lost 7-6 6-3 6-4 to Tokyo Olympic champion Alexander Zverev in the US Open quarter-finals.
The 46th ranked Harris can still hold his head up high after knocking out three seeds along the way in Olympic silver medalist Karen Khachanov (25), Denis Shapovalov (7) and Reilly Opelka (22) .
In Friday's semi-finals, Zverev will take on Novak Djokovic who needed four sets to get past Italian sixth seed Matteo Berrettini in their quarter final.
