BINGHAMTON, July 29, 2017

On day seven of the 24th annual Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger, US-American Christian Harrison booked his place in the last four of the $75,000 ATP Challenger event on Friday evening with an exciting upset.

Harrison earned his victory by knocking off second-seeded #NextGenATP star Alexander Bublik 6-4, 2-6, 7-5. Bublik, although playing a tough first set, fell 6-4 in the opening to Harrison. The two battled in the second set, as the 20-year-old from Kazakhstan led six games to five before Harrison tied it at six to force a tiebreak.

Bublik won the second set, 7-6. Going point-for-point, game-for-game in the third set, Bublik tied the score five games all as the match went over the two hour mark. Harrison won his last two games to take a 7-5 set win and claim his spot in the semi-finals after two hours and 25 minutes.

Harrison will next take on Cameron Norrie, who rallied past the tournament’s number eight Blaz Rola of Slovenia 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. The 21-year-old Briton withstood 11 aces, hitting four of his own to prevail in just under two hours of play.

Thompson To Face Blumberg

William Blumberg (photo: Jeremy Donovan)

Top seed Jordan Thompson also advanced to the semi-finals with a comfortable 6-2, 6-3 win over Germany’s Dominik Koepfer. The World No. 79 from Australia won 81 per cent of his first service points and broke serve four times to secure victory in one hour and 16 minutes.

Next up for Thompson will be US-American wild card entry  William Blumberg, as the college star’s opponent Ze Zhang from China was forced to withdraw from the match earlier in the day due to a lower back strain.

Blumberg is playing just his fourth pro tournament and his first ATP Challenger. The Connecticut native completed his freshman year at University of North Carolina by reaching the finals of the NCAA Championships, finishing the year with a 31-3 record in singles and holding a 24-match win streak at one stage.