August 06, (THEWILL) – The return of Rafa Nadal to the tennis courts abruptly ended after South African tennis player Lloyd Harris knocked the Spaniard out of the Washington Open on Thursday evening to earn the biggest win of his career 6-4 1-6 6-4 en route to reaching the quarter-finals of the event.
The number one seed was still not fully fit when he played his first match after taking time off tennis at the end of the year’s French Open. He had to overcome a lingering foot injury on Wednesday evening while playing home favourite Jack Sock in a final-set tie-break in front of an energised crowd that cheered both players.
Nadal triumphed through the pain barrier in that first round encounter to win 6-2 4-6 7(7)-6(1) and it was a worrying prospect if the world number three will continue the event, even if he played a lot better at the end to progress against Sock. He almost did the same again against Harris but the South African held on.
It was exciting that the pain did not impact Nadal’s fighting spirit and Nadal admitted to feeling better against Harris. So, it was to the credit of Harris that he defeated the Spaniard. Ranked 50th in the world, Harris improved to 2-5 against Top 10 opponents after two hours and 11 minutes of play.
In so doing, the 24-year-old enters tennis lore as the first tennis player to win his first meeting with Nadal since 18-year-old Canadian Denis Viktorovich Shapovalov upset the Spaniard in 2017 to be the first ever to do so.
In post-match remarks, Harris was elated with his play: “Today was really special. I think I have had some big wins, and this year I have beat some Grand Slam champions.
“But to beat a 20-time Grand Slam champion, and especially in front of a full crowd and with such an amazing atmosphere, it was definitely something very special.
“I did a lot of good things. I think the best thing was to stay in the moment, keep my composure, and I think I just stayed with my game and stayed playing at a consistently good level throughout the match.
“It was a good, quality match, I think. Not easy for me out there. It was pretty physical, but all in all, I’m just super happy with how everything turned out.”
It was the first Citi Open since 2019 due to the pandemic. Nadal’s fans enjoyed themselves and roars echoed from the stands when Nadal gave them a reason to cheer. But they were fair to Harris as well, especially when the unseeded right-hander hit a stunning lob on match point to complete his victory over their hero.
The South African has improved tremendously this year. He became the first qualifier to advance past the Dubai quarter-finals in the tournament’s 29-year history. There, Harris won seven matches in seven days to advance from qualifying to the championship match in good form.
Kei Nishikori read one of those Harris defeated during that run. He has the chance to replicate that victory against the Japanese on Friday after Nishikori beat in-form Briton Cameron Norrie 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to make the quarter-finals.
In the same half of the draw, Americans Denis Kudla and Mackenzie McDonald will meet in the other quarter-final. Kudla beat #NextGenATP American Brandon Nakashima 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4 and McDonald eliminated Belarusian Ilya Ivashka 6-4, 6-4.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
