Harris lost 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 2-6, 4-6 in the second round of the fourth and final Grand Slam of the year.

After fighting through three qualifying matches, Harris opened his main draw campaign with a convincing three-set win over Argentina’s Sebastian Baez. That victory set up a much tougher second-round clash against American fourth seed Fritz, a formidable opponent for the injury-plagued South African.

Harris started strongly, claiming the first set at Louis Armstrong Stadium in just 41 minutes. The second set proved tighter, with Fritz edging a 7-3 tiebreaker to level the match. From there, the American stepped up his game, taking control in the third set and closing out the fourth to secure his spot in the third round at Flushing Meadows.

Following the match, Fritz admitted that Harris had tested him, and he had to dig deep to ensure his campaign continued.

“It was a tough match – it was pretty windy out there, and I feel like kind of just a lot of shots weren’t necessarily working for me,” said Fritz, who extended his head-to-head record against Harris to 2-and-1.

Lloyd Harris with an absolute bullet of a forehand! ?? pic.twitter.com/fIfyZMYEYY

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 27, 2025

“So I had to... adapt and accept it and kind of just work with what I had, do what I could do. So, you know, in the end... I think I could have done a lot of things better, but I... just buckled down, did my best not to get frustrated that certain things weren’t going for me.

“I kind of played within myself on the day, did what I could do and, you know, happy to get it done.”

Despite the defeat, Harris still walked away with just under R2 million for reaching the second round. Fritz will now face Switzerland’s Jérôme Kym in the third round on Friday.

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek cvs