ADELAIDE
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mso-ansi-language:EN-ZA;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">– Rising South African tennis star Lloyd Harris battled past American Tommy Paul to reach his fist-ever ATP final at the Adelaide International in Australia on Friday.
Harris, 22, will play the winner of the match between world number 18 Russian Andrey Rublev and Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime (ranked 22nd) for a shot at the title on Saturday.
The in-form Harris won 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-3 against the American world number 90 to book his spot in the final of the ATP 250 level event.
"I'm so excited to be in the final here in Adelaide. Just ecstatic with the match I played," said the world number 91-ranked Harris. "Looking forward to the final tomorrow.”
En route to the final, Harris took out Spain's world number 30 Pablo Carreno Busta [6-3, 6-3], Chile's world number 36 Christian Garin [7-6(5), 3-6, 6-4] and Serbia's world number 40 Laslo Djere [7-6(5), 6-3).
Friday’s semi-final win will see Harris making his top-80 debut next week.
In 2019, Harris made great strides by qualifying for the main draws of all four Grand Slam events. 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.
He put a good showing against Roger Federer at Wimbledon, winning the first set against the Swiss star, before losing in four sets in the opening round. In September, Harris reached his first ever ATP 250 semi-final at the Chengdu Open in China.