NEW YORK — South Africa’s premier men’s singles ace, Lloyd Harris, has punched his ticket to the 2026 US Open main draw at Flushing Meadows, delivering a masterclass in grit, power, and composure across three gruelling qualifying rounds.
The 29-year-old Capetonian sealed his spot in the tournament proper on Friday with a commanding straight-sets victory over Spain’s 18th seed Pablo Llamas Ruiz, winning 7–6(3), 6–3 in one hour and 50 minutes. Harris leaned heavily on his signature weapon, hammering down 14 aces and winning 78% of his first-serve deliveries to keep the Spaniard under relentless pressure.
The qualification caps an intense week in New York where Harris had to dig deep from the outset. After kicking off his campaign with a three-set triumph over Australia’s Bernard Tomic (6–2, 5–7, 6–2), Harris survived a dramatic second-round thriller against Portugal’s 15th-seeded Henrique Rocha. In a match defined by razor-thin margins, the South African rallied from a set down to edge Rocha in a breathtaking final-set tiebreak, closing it out 12–10 to keep his Grand Slam ambitions alive.
The successful qualifying bid continues a strong North American hard-court swing for Harris, who captured the ATP Challenger title in Brownsburg and reached the final four in Cancún earlier this month.
Flushing Meadows has historically brought out some of Harris’s finest tennis on the Grand Slam stage. The South African made his main-draw breakthrough here with first-round appearances in 2018 and 2019, followed by second-round runs in 2020, 2023, and 2025. His standout career highlight in New York came during a memorable 2021 campaign, where he powered all the way through to the US Open quarterfinals.
Harris now turns his attention to the opening round of the main draw, where he meets rising American talent Jack Kennedy on Sunday evening.
With his serve firing on all cylinders and form peaking at the right time, South African fans have plenty of reason to rally behind the big-hitting star as the final Grand Slam of the year gets underway.
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