On Thursday night, the 24-year-old beat the former world number four, Kei Nishikori, 6-1, 3-6 and 6-3 to book his place in the last four of the Dubai Duty-Free Championship.

Harris made the better of the breakpoints on offer to set up a date with the third-seeded Denis Shapovalov of Canada.

Harris says experience in Dubai and on tour has served him well this week, but there is still some work to do.

“In the first set I think Kei was missing quite a bit and I was serving really well, and then all of a sudden out of nowhere he started reading my serve pretty good and started making a lot more balls and I didn’t really have a good rhythm. 

“Towards the end of the second set I started to find a little more range and we had a few tight games there early in the third set before I found a little more rhythm and I used that to get the break.”

“I'm really happy to get these big wins under my belt, and I'm looking to keep building on this confidence, keep improving on my game and playing better tennis.

“It's been a fantastic week so far. I've been playing some high-quality tennis, and it's been a lot of matches, but I'm not over the finish line just yet.

“Hopefully, there are two more matches to go, and I've just got to keep pushing.”

In reaching the semi-finals, Harris becomes the first qualifier since the tournament started in 1993 to reach the last four.

Shapovalov, in his turn, beat France's Jeremy Chardy 7-5, 6-4.

@MorganPiek OFM Sport