SA's Lloyd Harris bows out in Mallorca semi-final

South African tennis ace Lloyd Harris has lost his semi-final clash against Christopher Eubanks of the United States at the Mallorca Championships on Friday.

The 26-year-old Harris went down in three sets, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 (11/9), in a match that lasted 2 hours and 21 minutes.

Harris, who has struggled with injury over the past year, entered the tournament ranked 298th in the world and came through qualifying to reach the main draw of the ATP 250-level grass court event, a tune-up to Wimbledon.

What. A. Match ??@chris_eubanks96 saves 5 (!) match points vs Harris to reach his first tour-level final in Mallorca!#MallorcaChampionships pic.twitter.com/TN9O4rTnz0

The Capetonian missed the second half of 2022 after undergoing wrist surgery and has built his comeback gradually.

In what was an epic encounter, Harris won the first set, with Eubanks fighting back to take the second. 

Nothing could separate the two players in the third set, which lasted over an hour, with Eubanks staving off a few match points to take the contest into a tiebreak.

With the tiebreak score tied at 9-9, Eubanks rallied to win the following two points and book his place in the final.