APTOS, August 11, 2018

Three young guns will be joined by the No. 1 seed in Saturday’s semi-finals of the $100,000 Nordic Naturals Challenger presented by Santa Cruz County Bank. 

#NextGenATP South African Lloyd Harris continued his good run of form, beating Briton Liam Broady 6-2, 6-2. The 21-year-old from Cape Town, who captured his first ATP Challenger title at the Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships on Sunday, finished the encounter in one hour and four minutes. Harris hasn’t dropped a set across his last eight matches.

“I felt tremendously well,” Harris said. “I came out of the starting blocks with a break in the first game. I felt that I served well throughout the match. I felt that I was returning the ball and coming to the net well.”

Next up for Harris will Christopher Eubanks, who emerged victorious from the all-US-American affair with Ernesto Escobedo. The 22-year-old from Atlanta prevailed after one hour and 18 minutes.

Thomas Fabbiano

Thanasi Kokkinakis overcame eighth favourite Prajnesh Gunneswaran of India 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. The 22-year-old Australian, who is seeded fourth at the $100,000 ATP Challenger hard-court event, sent down 10 aces, winning 78 per cent of his first service points to seal victory after two hours and three minutes.

Kokkinakis will next challenge Thomas Fabbiano. The top seed from Italy secured a comfortable 6-2, 6-2 win over US-American Martin Redlicki. Fabbiano saved the only break point he faced, capitalizing on four of his own six opportunities to advance in exactly one hour of play.

“I returned well, kept the ball in play and continued making good serves,” Fabbiano said was key.

RESULTS – AUGUST 10, 2018

Singles – Quarterfinals
[1] T. Fabbiano (ITA) d [WC] M. Redlicki (USA) 62 62
[4] T. Kokkinakis (AUS) d [8] P. Gunneswaran (IND) 46 64 63
L. Harris (RSA) d L. Broady (GBR) 62 62
C. Eubanks (USA) d E. Escobedo (USA) 64 76(6)