‘A special feeling’ for Lloyd Harris as he stuns Dominic Thiem to claim biggest scalp of his career

ATP Tour
Lloyd Harris pleased

Last week he upset Stan Wawrinka in Qatar and this week he took out Dominic Thiem in Dubai so naturally Lloyd Harris is “really happy” with how he is playing.

The unseeded South African, who came through qualifying, produced the performance of his career as he stunned top seed Thiem 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 12 minutes in the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Tuesday.

The world No 81 broke the Austrian’s serve in game four and then took the first set on his first set point while the only break of serve in the second set came in game seven.

“I’m super, super happy with that win. He is by far the highest-ranked player I have beaten,” Harris told ATP Tour.

“I look up to Domi a lot so, for me, it is a special feeling. I am really happy. Just the fact that I am playing good tennis, match in, match out now is giving me a lot of confidence.”

The 24-year-old, who will face Filip Krajinovic for a place in the quarter-final, hit 23 winners and won 29 of 30 points on his serve.

“I was serving really well. I don’t think I faced any break points,” he said. “I took control of those games and [in] one or two games on his serve, I gave myself a good look. I played some of the important points very well. I am very proud of that.”

Former US Open finalist Kei Nishikori also caused an upset as he beat fifth seed David Goffin 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) while eighth seed Karen Khachanov got the better of Alexei Popyrin with a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4) win.

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Dominic Thiem Lloyd Harris

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