WHILE the Andrey Rublev and Daniel Evans match lived up to expectations, it was the run of two qualifiers in the top half of the Adelaide International that caught the eye of spectators this week. South African world number 99 Lloyd Harris bowled over fourth seed, Pablo Carreno Busta, while 90th ranked American qualifier Tommy Paul toppled another Spaniard in Albert Ramos-Vinolas, 6-3 6-4 for the pair of qualifiers to now face-off in the semi-finals. In the other quarter final second seed, Felix Auger-Aliassime made light work of Australian wildcard Andrew Bolt, winning 6-3 6-0.

On the live rankings, both Harris and Paul have made big jumps off a semi-finals spot, both now inside the top 80, and the winner will advance through to 73rd on the rankings ahead of the Australian Open. In Harris’ upset of the world number 30, Harris took 66 minutes to win with a 6-3 6-3 straight sets triumph. He broke the Spaniard three times during the match while being as consistent on serve as anyone going around. Harris slammed home 13 aces off a 73 per cent first serve ratio, while being near impenetrable with his play in court off his first serve – losing four points off his first serve and only losing three points off his second serve which were all double faults – statistics that make it impossible to lose.

Paul was almost as impressive on serve against Ramos-Vinolas in Adelaide, serving up nine aces and only losing a combined 11 points from his service games, four of which were double faults. Ramos-Vinolas did not get a chance to break, while Paul took up two breaks from four opportunities, also impressing on return with some nice shot play. Heading into the Australian Open, the 22-year-old American is yet another player that not too many would want to come up against and one that could surprise in the upcoming Open, but first he has to get past Harris.

In the most anticipated match of the day between two in-form players who are both seeded at the Grand Slam next week, it was Russian Rublev who continued his unbeaten form in season 2020, winning 6-4 3-6 6-3 in just over two hours against Evans. There was not a great deal of difference between the two competitors, but Rublev converted an extra break point from nine opportunities and was stronger off his serve with numbers of 82 and 59 per cent from his first and second serve winning percentage. Evans was 67 and 54 per cent respectively, but it was more his inability to get past the Russian’s first serve, winning a meagre eight points off it in the match. He served up five aces to the third seed’s 12, and now heads to the Australian Open with a potential third round matchup against tournament favourite, Novak Djokovic.

The last quarter final went about as expected with the greater class of Auger-Aliassime shining through to stop the run of Bolt who had impressed to earn a spot in the semi-finals. A future Grand Slam winner, Auger-Aliassime slammed home eight aces without a double fault and only lost a mind-boggling four points during his service games – in what was almost considered a perfect match. Bolt struggled throughout the 55-minute encounter, only winning 53 per cent of his first serve points and 33 per cent of his second serve points, while being broken five times. The world number 157 was just outclassed on the day and now heads east for the Australian Open.

On Day 5, Paul and Harris are first up in the day game starting from 12.30pm on Centre Court, with Rublev and Auger-Aliassime’s highly anticipated battle of the young guns semi-final happening at night.

Day 4 Results:

[2] Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) defeated [WC] Alex Bolt (AUS) 6-3 6-0
[3] Andrey Rublev (RUS) defeated Daniel Evans (GBR) 6-4 3-6 6-3
Lloyd Harris (RSA) defeated [4] Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP) 6-3 6-3
[Q] Tommy Paul (USA) defeated Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) 6-3 6-4