Lloyd Harris’ hot form continues in Dubai

South Africa’s Lloyd Harris continued his fine form at the Dubai Championships with a straight sets win over Serbian 14th seed Filip Krajinovic on Wednesday.

Harris, the world No 81, won 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 in one hour and 32 minutes to set up a quarter-final duel with Japan’s Kei Nishikori .

The 24-year-old Capetonian was a break down in the first set but broke back to force a tie-break, in which he overcame a 3-0 deficit to steal the first set.

The South African was dominant on serve for the remainder of the match, and after breaking Krajinovic in the middle of the second set, he cruised home. Harris serves 13 aces compared to his opponent’s three.

On Tuesday, Harris made headlines when he shocked top seed and world No 4 Dominic Thiem 6-3, 6-4 to claim his first win over a player ranked in the top five of the ATP rankings.

ALSO READ: SA’s Lloyd Harris stuns Thiem for biggest win

Just last week, Harris claimed his first top 20 win when he took out three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka at the Qatar Open.

Harris, who had to win two matches in qualifying to reach the Dubai main draw, beat Australian Christopher O’Connell 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-1 in the first round on Monday.

He now faces Nishikori, the current world No 41, for a spot in the last four. The Japanese star is a former US Open finalist and has been ranked as high as No 4 in the world.

It will be Harris and Nishikori’s first meeting on the ATP Tour.

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