Billy Harris in motion in opposition to Marek Gengel on the Bengaluru Open 2025 in Bengaluru on Wednesday 26 February 2025.
| Photograph Credit score: SUDHAKARA JAIN
Billy Harris is kind of the journeyman. He’s 30 years previous, has by no means entered the ATP top-100 and as soon as travelled round Europe to play ITF Futures tournaments in his personal Ford Transit van.
His entry into the continuing Bengaluru Open fundamental draw was solely mildly much less dramatic. Harris is the highest-ranked participant on website at 110 however having not signed up for the match initially, he needed to wind his method up from the qualifying rounds the place he was a last-minute on-site alternate entry.
He then misplaced within the ultimate spherical of the qualifying just for girl luck to smile once more as he secured a fundamental draw berth as a result of Canadian Alexis Galarneau (No. 162) pulled out. The on-site alternate and the lucky-loser spots are each selected the idea of rankings, and in that Harris had no match.
On Wednesday on the KSLTA courts right here, Harris remained unrivalled on the glazed blue acrylic too, beating Czech Republic’s Marek Gengel 6-4, 6-3 to enter the quarterfinals in rousing vogue.
In his manner, the Brit appears to have a usually stiff higher lip, and he confirmed little to no emotion whereas dispatching his opponent. After the competition, he appeared with an ice-strapping on his proper wrist however performed down that too.
Nonetheless, below the cruel afternoon solar, Harris’ sport discovered full expression. He was relentless in his strategy and ruthless in his shot-making — grass is in spite of everything his favorite floor — as he gained 86% of his first-serve factors, didn’t face a single break-point and remained unruffled even when Gengel tried an under-arm serve deep within the second set.
“I assumed I performed a fairly stable match,” Harris mentioned later. “I served nicely and acquired the breaks of serve that I wanted in each units.
“It’s been a very good journey [to India so far]. I’ve loved it, and making the ultimate in Delhi [Challenger] is clearly my finest till now. To interrupt into the top-100 is my subsequent aim,” he added.
Different outcomes (round-of-16): Nicolas Mejia (Col) bt Blake Ellis 6-1, 7-5; James McCabe (Aus) bt Rio Noguchi (Jpn) 7-5, 5-7, 7-6(5); Tristan Schoolkate (Aus) bt Jurij Rodionov (Aut) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
Revealed – February 26, 2025 08:23 pm IST
