Tennis: Lloyd Harris saves two match points to win the Jingshan Challenger
South African Lloyd Harris won the Jingshan Challenger tournament in China on October 4, 2026, defeating Italian Mattia Bellucci 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) in the final. Down a set after a disastrous start, the Cape Town native saved two match points in the deciding set before winning the tie-break 7 points to 4.
The scenario sums up a career marked by highs and lows. Bellucci, a left-handed top-100 player, dominated the first set before running into an opponent who refused to give up. Two points away from the title, the Italian let the opportunity slip, and Harris closed the deal in the tie-break, according to Tennis Talker and Canal Tenis.
The return of a former top 50 player
Born in Cape Town on February 24, 1997, Lloyd Harris has experienced the very highest level: ranked 31st in the world on September 13, 2021, he reached the quarter-finals of the US Open that same year, where he was defeated by Alexander Zverev, then world number 4. Injuries subsequently sent him back down the rankings. At the beginning of October 2026, he was ranked 125th in the ATP, according to Good Things Guy.
The Jingshan title is his fourth on the Challenger circuit this season, according to Tennis Talker. He had already won in Soma Bay, Egypt, in January, followed by Tenerife in February, and Brownsburg, USA, in August. A haul that brings him closer to the top 100, the gateway to Grand Slam main draws.
A rare flag on the circuit
The performance is worth noting for another reason: African tennis remains very poorly represented in the men's elite. Apart from a few players from North Africa and South Africa, the continent fields only a handful of professionals in the world rankings, due to a lack of infrastructure, local tournaments, and funding. Every title won by an African on the secondary circuit is therefore earned at the cost of entire seasons spent traveling.
Harris, who holds a record of 15 wins and 7 losses in the Davis Cup with South Africa, continues to be his country's main flag-bearer. At 29, he is no longer at the age of promise, but he is still at the age of comebacks. And the Asian hard-court season, where he has just triumphed, leaves him a window to climb even higher before the end of the year.
This article was written in French with the help of artificial intelligence from the sources cited below, then translated from French automatically. Read the original.