SA looking at Harris to star in Davis Cup opener

News24
12 Sep 2019, 23:47 GMT+10

Cape Town - South Africa will be looking to Lloyd Harris to anchor their challenge in Friday's opening Davis Cup Europe/Africa Group II tie against Bulgaria at the Kelvin Grove Club in Cape Town (start 11am).

Following Thursday's draw at a Constantia wine farm, the country's No 1 player will play the opener against Bulgaria's Number two, Alexandar Lazarov.

There is broad daylight between the two names on the latest ATP world rankings. The 22-year-old Harris is at 113 and Alexandar Lazarov, 21, is much further down at 527.

However, both camps will be aware that in the past Davis Cup competition had made the form book look like a comic strip. Davis Cup underdogs are known to be fuelled by fierce national pride and South Africa will be all too aware of this.

In the second singles tie, South Africa's No 2 Ruan Roelofse will go up against Bulgarian number one, Dimitar Kuzmanov, who will start as the favourite.

The 26-year-old Kuzmanov is ranked No 324 in the world with the 29-year-old Roelofse a few hundred places further out at 681.

Roelofse, better known a doubles player for some time, has been playing singles matches around the world this year and should offer stern opposition for the Bulgarian.

He has been showing stead improvement and over six months he has moved 101 places up the rankings.

The doubles and reverse singles will be played on Saturday's final day.

Raven Klaasen, who is eighth in the world, will be partnered by Roelofse (273 doubles) for South Africa with the visitors naming Alexander Donski (507 doubles) and Gabriel Donev (994) in their doubles team.

Watch latest videos

News RELEASES

Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Kenya Star.

More Information

null in null

Africa

Section

Daily World Briefing, April 25

The Palestine Liberation Organization's Central Council approved on Thursday the creation of the position of vice president for its...

India donates 4.8 tons of vaccines to Afghanistan

New Delhi [India], April 25 (ANI): India on Thursday donated 4.8 tons of vaccines to Afghanistan, including vaccines for rabies, tetanus,...

ZIMBABWE-BULAWAYO-TRADE FAIR-CHINESE PAVILION

(250424) -- BULAWAYO (ZIMBABWE), April 24, 2025 (Xinhua) -- A Zimbabwean man learns about traditional Chinese medicine at the Chinese...

Xi Focus: China's space exploration benefits the world

BEIJING, April 24 (Xinhua) -- China launched the Shenzhou-20 crewed spaceship Thursday, continuing efforts to advance space technology...

NAMIBIA-WINDHOEK-INTERNATIONAL GIRLS IN ICT DAY

(250424) -- WINDHOEK, April 24, 2025 (Xinhua) -- People attend an event marking the International Girls in ICT Day in Windhoek, Namibia,...

Dubai Centre for AI, South African AI Association to launch AI trade & investment hub

DUBAI, 24th April, 2025 (WAM) -- Dubai Future Foundation (DFF), through the Dubai Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DCAI), has partnered...

World

Section