South Africa’s top-ranked tennis player Lloyd Harris pulled out all the stops to book his place in the second round of the US Open in his first-round win over Karen Khachanov.
Entering the match against the 25th-ranked Russian on Tuesday, Harris was the underdog.
But he dug deep to beat the Russian, who made the quarterfinal of Wimbledon this year, in the first round in five sets 6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to set up a second- round match against American Ernesto Escobedo today.
SA’s other US Open hopeful Kevin Anderson squared off against Argentine Diego Schwartzman at 1am this morning.
While the South Africans are looking to get into the third round, tournament favourite Novak Djokovic is also scheduled to be in action today, facing Tallon Griekspoor in his second round clash after beating Holger Rune in four sets on Tuesday.