SA tennis ace Lloyd Harris wins first ATP Tour match in five months

South African tennis ace Lloyd Harris won his first ATP Tour match in five months on Monday when he defeated Spaniard Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-2, 7-6 (7/2) at the Mallorca Championships.

Harris, who has struggled with injury of late, recorded his first tour-level victory since January. The Capetonian came through qualifying to reach the main draw of the ATP 250-level grass court event, which is a tune-up to Wimbledon.

The 26-year-old was impeccable on serve, wining 33 of 37 points on his first serve (89%).

"It's never easy. I feel like my preparation for the match was boosted by playing some matches in qualifying," Harris told the ATP Tour website. "Obviously, he's been doing really well ... Playing in Spain, in front of a Spanish crowd [who gave] good support to him. I'm happy I got through." 

Back to winning ways ??Harris defeats Zapata Miralles 6-2 7-6 for his second win of the season and moves into R2 in Mallorca!#MallorcaChampionships pic.twitter.com/UfiAr7iCVN

Harris, who reached a career-high ranking of No 31 in 2021, is now down at No 298 in the world.

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

He recorded a 10-5 win-loss record for the season on the ATP Challenger Tour but arrived in Mallorca off the back of four consecutive defeats at ATP level.

Harris will next face fellow qualifier Roman Safiullin. The Russian, ranked 94th in the world, beat Jordanian teenager Abdullah Shelbayh 6-1, 6-4.

The top seed at the Mallorca Championship is Greek world No 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas.