Rafael Nadal's debut appearance at the Citi Open Washington came to an abrupt end on Thursday night, as the top seed fell to Lloyd Harris in a three-set encounter.
After surviving an opening round scare against Jack Sock, Nadal faced the 14th seeded Harris in a round of 16 matchup. However, the South African played the match of his life to defeat the Spaniard, prevailing with a 6-4 1-6 6-4 victory.
Harris shocked the crowd by taking the first set, fearlessly attacking with heavy groundstrokes. Nonetheless, Nadal regained control by breaking the World No.50 twice in the second set, with Harris looking vulnerable at the beginning of the third.
However, the South African relied on his big first serve to maintain parity in the final set. With Nadal serving to stay in the match at 4-5, Harris reached his first match point. A fantastic forehand lob sealed his victory, as the 24-year old clinched the match after two hours and 10 minutes.
Harris will square off with Kei Nishikori in the quarterfinals, as the Japanese star obtained a three-set victory over Cameron Norrie earlier in the day.
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- Big Babe Tennis! Hoping for a good final.DaveyWavey12-09-2026
- Director needs to return to his old "job" at the Australia Open. He's clueless in NYC.
mandoist12-09-2026 - You keep writing ridiculous crap... why are you even watching tennis?mandoist12-09-2026
- They probably have a very good reason for this. I do not get it. Annoying that it finishes so late
AceOfBase12-09-2026 - I hope he wins. Would be great to have a USA winner again with the men.AceOfBase12-09-2026
- I love WTA matches. Seek them out as much as possible on youtube and other platforms I already subscribe to. With that in mind, I do not wish to pay $$$ to a notoriously slippery subscription conglomerate sports broadcaster (like SkySports) just for the privilege to watch it and the tnt/eurosport/discovery subscription went from $$ to $$$+ annually in a blink of an eye. With ATP I have been begrudgingly paying xyz tennis only channel and try to catch up on slams elsewhere (pubs, youtube with USO later on games are just as enjoyable to watch and a smart move to upload on their official channel) but they don't cover WTA. I tried another Tennis dedicated channel that advertised originally as broadcasting where I live, but turned out, they took the money, but didn't cover the matches (only fluff/filler value documentaries). I don't understand why it is so hard to not lock the live matches to one broadcaster only refusing so many people who are happy to pay for the privilege just not through that one entry point. WTA is so exciting for the last few years and they really should capitalise on it as much as possible. And I know it is somewhat naive talking without knowing the inner works, but not being able to find any WTA other than youtube (and then only highlights mostly) is just so frustrating.JayJay11-09-2026
- Clearly not AI :-)AceOfBase11-09-2026
- Oh my God!! Does anyone proofread these pages??? Case in point: However, the question mark over the 32-years-old head......???? No! No! No! However, the question mark over the 32-year-old's head...good grief man, hire a proofreader. This article is rife with errors making some sentences very difficult to read. I had to stop. I am a proofreader hence my disgust.Rapunzel10-09-2026
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