South African Lloyd Harris continued his amazing run at the U.S. Open by defeating seventh seed Denis Shapovalov in their third round encounter early on Sunday.
Harris, ranked 36 places below the Canadian, battled past the world number 10 in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in just over two hours to progress to the second week of the final Grand Slam of the year.
Harris hit 10 aces and 26 winners and converted five out of nine break points compared to Shapovalov who fired nine aces and 24 winners and converted just two out of eight break points. Harris (23) also made almost twice as fewer unforced errors as Shapovalov (40).
The victory is another major scalp for the 24-year-old who eliminated Olympic silver medalist Karen Khachanov in the first round before easing past American qualifier Ernesto Escobedo to make the third round of the U.S. Open for the first time.
Harris will next face American 22nd seed Reilly Opelka, who is yet to drop a set at this tournament, for a place in the quarterfinals. The two previous meetings between the duo are evenly split with each winning once against the other.
Harris is Africa’s sole remaining representative at the tournament in both the men’s and women’s draws after Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur was eliminated by Elise Mertens of Belgium in the third round on Saturday.
(Story compiled with assistance from wire reports)
