Lloyd Harris’ Dubai dream run continues: He’s into the final!

South Africa’s top-ranked tennis player, Lloyd Harris, continued his dream run at the ATP Dubai tournament on Friday when he reached his maiden final on the ATP Tour.

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Harris, 24, came back from a set down against Canada’s Denis Shapovalov to win 6/7 (5/7), 6-4, 7/6 (8/6) in a titanic battle that lasted all of 2 hours and 37 minutes.

Earlier in the tournament Lloyd Harris beat Austrian top-seed and world No 4 Dominic Thiem in the second round and Japanese No 1 Kei Nishikori in Round 3.

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Cape Town’s Harris will face Russian Aslan Karatsev in Saturday’s final after the 42nd-ranked player upset his world No 8 compatriot Andrey Rublev 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

Harris entered the tournament ranked 81st in the world.

Should he win the final he will move up to 45th in the world, while defeat would see him ranked 52nd – both of which are new career highs.

“I don’t have many words right now. I am super happy with that win,” Harris said.

“Being a set and 2-4 down is mentally and physically a little bit troublesome for me, but I found my best tennis from there. I am just extremely happy with the result right now.”

Shapovalov appeared on course for victory after shading a first set tiebreak and then breaking Harris in the fifth game of the second set.

However the Canadian, who hadn’t dropped serve all week, committed a string of unforced errors and was broken twice in a row as Harris forced a final set.

Both players held serve throughout the decider before Harris triumphed on his second match point in another tiebreak.