WHAT HAPPENED: No. 7 seed David Goffin of Belgium advanced to the third round of the 2020 US Open with a four-set win over South Africa’s Lloyd Harris, 7-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, in a match that spanned two hours and 53 minutes.
The 29-year-old Goffin has advanced to the Round of 16 each of the past three years at the US Open. Harris, 23, was coming off his first US Open main-draw win, a three-setter on Monday.
In the first set, Harris certainly had his chances with five break-point opportunities, but was only able to convert once. On the serve, Harris dominated, as he won four of six games at love.
“I had never played him before and didn’t know what to expect with his serve,” said Gofiin, of the South African. “The balls were coming off the court pretty fast and I just wasn’t able to get a good look at his serve.”
Simply looking at the stat sheet, it’s amazing Goffin was able to wrestle the first set away from Harris. Consider: Harris won more points (54-49); Goffin struggled on his serve, able to get in just over half of his first serves, at 53 percent (35 of 66); Goffin had a total of 25 unforced errors with just eight winners.
Despite the stats, however, Goffin was able to eke out the breaker, 8-6, taking the one-hour-and-8-minute set on a forehand winner.
The second set started with four consecutive breaks of serve. Harris broke the set open in the sixth game, with a break of serve for a 4-2 lead, and held on to notch the set, 6-4.
In the third set, Goffin picked up his game and jumped out to a 4-1 lead with some big and timely serves (four aces) and fewer unforced errors (5) than winners (6).
Both players opened the fourth set with breaks of serve as Harris tied it at 1-all after having lost seven of eight games to Goffin. Goffin broke Harris at love in the ninth game to serve for the match, leading 5-4. Goffin opened up a 40-0 lead, but Harris refused to die, getting it back to deuce on two forehand winners and an unforced error by Goffin. Finally, on the fourth match point, Goffin rushed the net and hit a put-away forehand volley to end the match.
WHAT IT MEANS: Goffin moves on to play No. 26 seed Filip Krajinovic of Serbia, who lost just eight games in his win over American Marcos Giron, in the third round on Friday. A potential fourth-round matchup with either No. 12 seed Denis Shapovalov or No. 19 Taylor Fritz looms ahead.
MATCH POINT: Goffin’s last three US Open losses have taken place in the fourth round, with former champions taking him out in each of the last two years: Roger Federer in 2019 and Marin Cilic in 2018.
