ATP Tour

World No. 136 Harris upsets top seed Vacherot in Chengdu

World No. 136 Lloyd Harris, a qualifier, reached his first ATP Tour quarter-final since 2023 on Saturday when he stunned top seed Valentin Vacherot 6-4, 7-6(5) at the Chengdu Open.

“It feels great. Obviously I’ve had to grind a lot of Challengers to even be able to play in some of these tournaments again after being injured, so it feels very good,” Harris said. “Obviously super happy. I’ve played pretty good in Chengdu before, so it’s a place I feel familiar with. It’s nice to be playing here.”

The South African, a former World No. 31, made the semi-finals at this ATP 250 event as a qualifier in 2019 and will have a chance to replicate the feat when he takes on fifth seed Hubert Hurkacz in the last eight.

Harris has not lost a set in qualifying or the main draw and took a 1-0 Lexus ATP Head2Head series lead without facing a break point.

“I think it actually helped to have a couple of matches here before. It was my fourth match, feeling quite comfortable with the conditions, the court,” Harris said. “Obviously it was his first match, so a little bit tricky here for him at the start and I used it to my advantage nicely.”

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina made a triumphant return to the ATP Tour earlier in the day.

Competing for the first time since July, the Spaniard overcame Juan Manuel Cerundolo 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the last eight. The No. 29 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, Davidovich Fokina had been struggling with injury, which kept him out of competition during the North American hard-court swing, including the US Open.

"I knew it was going to be a tricky match, not easy to start again after two months," Davidovich Fokina said. "Cerundolo is very solid from the baseline, so I knew that I needed to be aggressive today to play and think more tactically about how to play against him."

Making his first appearance in Chengdu, the second seed won 79 per cent (30/38) of his first-serve points and claimed 11 of the 12 points he played at the net, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to triumph in one hour and 22 minutes. With his second-round victory, Davidovich Fokina improved to 3-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Cerundolo. The Spaniard is now into his 36th tour-level quarter-final.

The next test for Davidovich Fokina, who is chasing his second title of the season, will be a last-eight clash with French qualifier Alexandre Muller. Later in the day, Muller defeated #NextGenATP star Federico Cina 7-6(3), 6-1 in one hour and 27 minutes.