“Aslan Karatsev’s rise a bit unusual but he is been putting the hard work for many years,” says Lloyd Harris


“Aslan Karatsev’s rise a bit unusual but he is been putting the hard work for many years,” says Lloyd Harris

Aslan Karatsev

Aslan Karatsev announced himself on the big stage at the Australian Open this year. The Russian made it to the main draw of the Australian Open after winning three qualifying round matches. However, his journey did not end there. Karatsev reached the semifinals in Melbourne where he was finally defeated by Novak Djokovic.

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The Russian continued his fine form this season as he lifted his first career ATP title in Dubai on Saturday. Karatsev outplayed the South African, Lloyd Harris in the finals of the Dubai Open, winning in straight sets. He also ended his fellow countryman, Andrey Rublev’s run of 23 consecutive wins at ATP 500 events after defeating him in the semifinals.

Lloyd Harris finds Karatsev’s rise a bit unusual but believes that he deserves all of his recent success, because of the amount of hard work he has put in. “You could say a little unusual, but he’s putting in the hard work for so many years and it is the time when it paid off. Karatsev has been thriving on confidence and I think that’s a big thing,” said Harris.

Karatsev’s rise has been coming for a long time: Harris

Lloyd Harris stated that Aslan Karatsev has started to trust his game tremendously and that was the reason for his recent form. “He (Karatsev) got a few big wins and he has started to trust his game tremendously and I think that is why you are seeing that kind of tennis that he started to produce, starting from the Australian Open qualifying rounds,” said the South African.

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Harris also added that Karatsev’s rise had been coming for a long time as was displayed by his performance in the Challengers towards the end of last season. He stated that the Russian just took a step further this year.

“It’s been coming for a long time, he already showed in the challengers at the end of last year that he was bringing a high level and just took another step this year,” Harris concluded.

Also Read: ‘You feel privileged yourself,’ Aslan Karatsev on winning the same trophy Federer, Djokovic and Nadal have previously won