DUBAI/STARNBERG, March 18, 2021
South African Lloyd Harris maintained his fine form at the Dubai Tennis Championships with a straight sets victory over Serbian No. 14 seed Filip Krajinovic on Wednesday night.
The 24-year-old qualifier prevailed 7-6(5), 6-4 in the match which lasted 92 minutes to reach his maiden ATP 500 quarterfinal round.
Harris will next face Japanese former World No.4 Kei Nishikori, who defeated Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia in straight sets, for a place in the stage of the final four.
Nishi ➡️ quarter-final bound 🤙
With a brilliant rally on match point, @keinishikori sees off Bedene 6-4 6-4 to move into the #DDFTennis last eight for the first time! pic.twitter.com/agUswnzNLa
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 17, 2021
The 31-year-old Japanese, whose career once promised so much, has endured a miserable two years, largely due to a succession of injury problems, and currently finds himself ranked outside the world’s Top 40.
It will be Harris and Nishikori’s first meeting on the ATP Tour.
The Cape Town native, who began his week in the qualifying, has already picked up four wins and dismissed top seed and World No.4 Dominic Thiem of Austria in short order in the round of 32.
Last week in Doha, Harris claimed his first Top 20 win at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open against Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland.
Quarter-Finals are locked in🔒
🇨🇦 Shapovalov v Chardy 🇫🇷
🇷🇺 Karatsev v Sinner 🇮🇹
🇭🇺 Fucsovics v Rublev 🇷🇺
🇿🇦 Harris v Nishikori 🇯🇵Who’s reaching the @DDFTennis semis?
— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 17, 2021
