Lloyd Harris of South Africa had the win of his career against Rafa Nadal in Round 3 in Washington and what a thriller it was. But here in the quarters he found the going tough against Japan's Nishikori. The 14th seeded Harris is got youth and energy on his side but Kei had all the experience . Nishikori was the better starter in the match, check out 2-0(40-30Harris). The winner got me excited from the Japanese. Llyod hits a decent enough forehand which got Kei slightly off balance. Kei's excellent footwork and low center of gravity got him to the point of playing the forehand cross court winner. First set going to Kei.
Now watch out for this point 1-0 upnis Kei but Harris up 15-0. The Harris serve makes the ball bounce high, so how do you keep the ball low on the backhand, a tall order right? Not for this guy. He uses the weaker left arm to effect getting the speed, direction and control. Llyod's style of tennis is very likeable , almost similar to Stefanos Tsitsipas's. Like Stefanos , his forehand is a joy. Check out 3-3(30-0 Kei). It's a gutsy shot, with top spin which gets the ball to pull away from the opponent when it bounces. I always say you can tell the level of experience a player has by the way they play the overhead smash. Watch my last play at 5-5(30-0 Harris),eyes in the ball not the opponent, confident smash.One break of serve is all it took for Kei to book a semi final spot, which happened in the twelfth game as the breaker beckoned. Why in earth would the organizers not seed Kei when he is a former winner of the tournament? Possibly maybe he has had a wretched 2021 in terms of form. Maybe.
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