Tennis / South African Lloyd Harris qualifies for 2024 Australian Open

South Africa’s former world No.31 Lloyd Harris has qualified for the Australian Open men’s singles main draw.

Harris on Friday beat fourth seed Hugo Gaston from France with a dominant 6-0, 6-2 victory in his final qualifying match to advance to the main draw at the first Grand Slam of the year in Melbourne.

Earlier in the week, the 26-year-old Cape Town native triumphed over Kyrian Jacquet from France (7-5, 6-4) and Daniel Rincon of Spain (6-2, 6-2) in his first two qualifying matches.

Harris, currently ranked 149th in the ATP world rankings, will be the sole South African participant in the men's singles event at the Australian Open. His ranking has dropped outside the top 100 due to an injury-enforced hiatus.

Harris still has to wait to see who he will face in the first round.