SA's Harris beats Zapata Miralles in Mallorca Championships 2023
After five months of hard work, South Africa’s Lloyd Harris tasted tour-level victory once again on Monday at the Mallorca Championships in Spain.
The South African delivered a dominant serving performance to oust seventh seed Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-2, 7-6(2) and reach the second round at the grass-court ATP 250. It was a first tour-level victory since January for Harris, who came through qualifying to reach the main draw in Spain.
“It’s never easy. I feel like my preparation for the match was boosted by playing some matches in qualifying,” said Harris, who won 89 per cent (33/37) of points behind his first serve. “Obviously, he’s been doing really well… Playing in Spain, in front of a Spanish crowd [who gave] good support to him. I’m happy I got through.”
The former World No. 31 Harris missed the second half of 2022 after undergoing wrist surgery and has built his comeback gradually. The 26-year-old holds a 10-5 record for the season on the ATP Challenger Tour but arrived in Mallorca off the back of four consecutive defeats at tour-level.
With that streak now snapped, Harris’ next test in Mallorca is a maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with his fellow qualifier Roman Safiullin. The World No. 94 Safiullin defeated #NextGenATP Jordanian Abdullah Shelbayh 6-1, 6-4 in his opening match.\
BY ATP TOUR
After five months of hard work, South Africa’s Lloyd Harris tasted tour-level victory once again on Monday at the Mallorca Championships in Spain.
The South African delivered a dominant serving performance to oust seventh seed Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-2, 7-6(2) and reach the second round at the grass-court ATP 250. It was a first tour-level victory since January for Harris, who came through qualifying to reach the main draw in Spain.
“It’s never easy. I feel like my preparation for the match was boosted by playing some matches in qualifying,” said Harris, who won 89 per cent (33/37) of points behind his first serve. “Obviously, he’s been doing really well… Playing in Spain, in front of a Spanish crowd [who gave] good support to him. I’m happy I got through.”
The former World No. 31 Harris missed the second half of 2022 after undergoing wrist surgery and has built his comeback gradually. The 26-year-old holds a 10-5 record for the season on the ATP Challenger Tour but arrived in Mallorca off the back of four consecutive defeats at tour-level.
With that streak now snapped, Harris’ next test in Mallorca is a maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with his fellow qualifier Roman Safiullin. The World No. 94 Safiullin defeated #NextGenATP Jordanian Abdullah Shelbayh 6-1, 6-4 in his opening match.\
BY ATP TOUR
