South Africa’s top-ranked tennis player Lloyd Harris has made the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time over the weekend, beating seventh-seed Canadian Denis Shapovalov 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in the third round on Saturday.
The Capetonian has been on fire so far in New York, beating 25th-seed Karen Khachanov in the first round and then Ernesto Escobedo in the second.
Up next is 22nd-seed American Reilly Opelka in their last-16 clash today, as Harris looks to make the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career.
With his previous best being a third-round appearance, the 24-year-old is quoted by Tennis South Africa on their Twitter feed as saying: “The fourth round is a major accomplishment for me, it’s my first one ever and I’m looking forward to the next one.
“Everything has been coming together this season. I want to keep the momentum going.”
While Harris and Opelka will spook sake uit today, Harris will be hoping he is not too tired after last night’s doubles second round where he and Israeli Jonathan Elrich faced eighth-seeded duo John Peers and Filip Polasek.
Raven Klaasen and his doubles mate Ben McLachlan were KO’d by US pair Mitchell Krueger and Michael Mmoh on the weekend.