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Lloyd Harris. (Fake images)
Russian Aslan Karatsev continued his remarkable season by winning his first ATP Tour title on Saturday, beating South African Lloyd Harris in the final in Dubai.
The 27-year-old, who became the first man to reach the semifinals in his Open-era Grand Slam debut at the Australian Open last month, edged out Harris 6-3, 6-2.
Karatsev, who rose from 114th to 42nd in the world rankings after the Australian Open, broke Harris’ serve midway through the first set and twice more in the second.
It was his first ATP singles final, having won a tour-first event at last week’s doubles tournament in Doha, alongside compatriot Andrey Rublev.
He eliminated Rublev in form in the semifinals on Friday and backed him up against Harris.
Karatsev saved the only two break points he faced as he raced to victory in less than an hour and 20 minutes.
It was a disappointing end to a magnificent week for Harris, 24, who became the first seed in history to reach the final of the tournament.
He memorably claimed several large scalps on his way to masterpiece combat, in particular, defeating top seed Dominic Thiem as well as Kei Nishikori.
“There are so many positives to this week, after seven games,” Harris said.
“Aslan was too good today, and sometimes it happens like that, but I’m going to take all the great achievements from this week, move on and take it to the next tournament.
