South African qualifier Lloyd Harris fired 14 aces while beating Japan’s Kei Nishikori 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in the United Arab Emirates.
The decisive third set was on serve until Harris broke for a 5-3 lead, and he served out the match in the ensuing game.
Harris, who is ranked 81st in the world, is in search of his first career ATP Tour title. His semifinal foe will be third-seeded Canadian Denis Shapovalov, who beat France’s Jeremy Chardy 7-5, 6-4 on Thursday.
The other semifinal will feature an all-Russian matchup of second-seeded Andrey Rublev and Aslan Karatsev. Rublev topped Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics 7-5, 6-2, and Karatsev rallied past 16th-seeded Italian Jannik Sinner 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2.
Abierto Mexicano Telcel
Second-seeded German Alexander Zverev became the first player to reach the semifinals in Acapulco, Mexico, and he didn’t have to contest a point. Eighth-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway withdrew due to a right wrist injury sustained in warmups, giving Zverev a walkover victory.
Zverev will face either Germany’s Dominik Koepfer or Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie in the semifinals.
The other two quarterfinal matches were scheduled for late Thursday night. Top-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece was due to oppose seventh-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, and fifth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria was set to oppose Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti.
(Field Level Media)
