Harris Makes Noise in Home Country

It's a very high level he is playing at to be beating guys at 140, 180 and then around 90 in the world.
Head Coach John Roddick

ONKAPARINGA, Australia – Oklahoma men's tennis player Andrew Harris competed at the Happy Valley Challenger in his home country of Australia, and made quite a splash.

Just a sophomore, Harris won three matches in the 23-player qualifying draw to earn a place in the 32-player main draw. In the first round of the main draw, Harris toppled Hiroki Moriya of Japan in straight sets, 7-5, 6-1. Moriya is currently ranked as the No. 143 player in the world by the ATP. Harris's current ranking is 654.

In the second round, Harris took down No. 187 Jurgen Zopp of Estonia. It was another straight-sets win for Harris, who prevailed, 7-5, 6-3.

In the quarterfinals round, Harris faced 86^th ranked Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia. Harris took the first set 6-2, but dropped the second set 5-7. In the third set Harris cruised to a 6-1 win on the back of a dominant backhand to take the match and advance to the semifinals round. At 23, Kuznetsov is one of the best young players in the game. He has made main draw appearances at five Grand Slam events and advanced to the third round at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2014.

“Andrew is obviously playing very well,” Oklahoma head coach John Roddick said. “It is a very high level he is playing at to be beating guys at 140, 180 and then around 90 in the world. We are excited to see how he does tonight against Baghdatis who has been a Grand Slam finalist.”

Harris then faced 82^nd ranked Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in the semifinals. Harris fell to Baghdatis 6-4, 6-4. Baghdatis finished as the runner-up at the 2006 Australian Open and was a semifinalist at Wimbledon in 2006. He earned his highest professional ranking in 2006 when he rose to No. 8 in the world.

“I know his game well from when I coached my brother and we went up against Marcos a couple of times,” Roddick said. “It's kind of fun to have an idea of how to play the guy. Marcos is later in his career, so it's not the same guy he was in 2005 and 2006, but at the end of the day those guys know how to play."

Harris will stay in his home country a little longer following the Happy Valley Challenger. The sophomore will take part in the qualifying draw for the Australian Open. Qualifying begins Wednesday Jan. 14 and main draw play begins Monday Jan. 19.

The Happy Valley Challenger is part of the ATP Challenger Tour, a spring board for future tennis professionals to compete, while honing their craft. Some of the world's top players like Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal all progressed through the Challenger Tour before ascending to the top of the tennis world. Harris can compete in the event and retain his amateur status.

For more information on OU Men's Tennis, follow the team on Twitter at @OU_MTennis.