It’s been some time in coming, but the Billy Harris breakthrough as the 29-year-old from the Isle of Man finally made his breakthrough into the top level of the professional tour at this year’s grass court swing.
It’s my first time in Eastbourne, it’s a great court to play on and it felt great out there Billy Harris
He has now made the quarter finals of the Rothesay International down at Devonshire Park where an ATP 250 level event is being played out in Eastbourne having made at least the second round in Surbiton, Nottingham and then the last eight at Queen’s.
As a wildcard entry his run on the south coast has been at the expense of two compatriots, namely fellow wildcard Jacob Fearnley (6-4 7-6(7)) and then Lucky Loser Charles Broom (replacing second seed the Queen’s champion, Tommy Paul, 3-6 6-2 6-2). Next up for Harris is Flavio Cobolli of Italy who eliminated another Brit, Giles Hussey 4-6 6-3 6-4.
“It’s my first time in Eastbourne, it’s a great court to play on and it felt great out there,” he said after his first-round victory.
“I definitely gained some confidence from last week (at Queen’s) but at the same time, it was a very tough match. Jacob won his last tournament and beat a lot good players so I knew I had to be really on my game for these matches.”
His current successful spell has earned him a wildcard for Wimbledon and when he steps out on court at the AELTC to make hi debut at a grand slam event, he will be fulfilling a lifelong dream.
Meanwhile at the top of the draw, two-time former champion, defeated Brazil’s Thiago Seyboth Wild 7-6(4), 6-3 firing 15 aces in the process dropping just five points in 11 service games.
“In the first set it gets tight and it can go either way when you get to a ‘breaker, but I really didn’t see any opportunities where I could have gotten a break; he was serving well… I just had to get through the tiebreaker, take care of my serve and wait for my chances,” Fritz, the top seed from the States, admitted.
“Both years I won here (2019, 2022) I came into the tournament not having won matches, not having played well. I know no matter what, I can come here and start feeling good. It gives me a lot of confidence. Winning two matches last week was my best result at Queen’s, but I wasn’t super happy with the last match I played, so I still want to play better.”
(Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)
He faces next Juncheng Shang, a 19-year-old from China, who became the second male layer from that country to reach the quarter finals of an ATP tour event.
The teenager, a qualifier, defeated Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori 4-6 6-3 6-4 after saving four of the five break points he faced having overcome a nervy start, dropping serve in the opening game before finding greater consistency and using his tricky lefty game to advance.
“I don’t think I changed much,” Shang said of his comeback. “Emil is a very complete player. He can do anything on the court very solid. I just thought, ‘If he plays better than me, this is it, I’m just going to keep playing my tennis’. It ended up working really well. Let’s go step by step. After today’s match, good recovery. I’ve played a couple days in a row.
Also in Eastbourne, fellow qualifiers Yoshito Nishioka and Max Purcell advanced to the quarter-finals. The Japanese lefty rallied past Marcos Giron 6-7(8) 6-4, 6-2 and Aussie beat Italian Lorenzo Sonego 6-4 6-4 while Miomir Kecmanovic cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Sebastian Baez and Lucky Loser Aleksaner Vukic defeated two-time quarter-finalist Alexander Bublik 6-4 6-4.
