Mallorca Championships: Eubanks beats Harris, reaches first ATP Tour final

Santa Ponsa [Spain], July 1 : Christopher Eubanks reached his first ATP Tour final at the Mallorca Championships by saving five set chances on Friday.

After two hours and eighteen minutes, the 27-year-old defeated Lloyd Harris in a nail-biting three-set match 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(9). Eubanks saved two additional match points in the tie-break of the final set after digging out of a 0/40 deficit while serving at 4-5 in the tiebreaker.

Eubanks will next play fourth seed Adrian Mannarino in the ATP 250 championship final. Mannarino defeated Germany's Yannick Hanfmann 7-6(7), 6-4 on Friday.

"I was just out here trying to fight and figure it out. I got off to a bit of a slow start, Lloyd played some really good tennis and made me play a lot of balls. I didn't have my timing to start off." Eubanks said in his on-court interview as quoted by atptour.com.

"I just said, 'I'm going to try and keep finding my rhythm on serve.' That's been the key to my success this week. I was able to do that, I was able to continue to fight," he further said.

Eubanks performed outstandingly as jumped 27 spots to No. 50, positioning himself for a new career high. Eubanks is having his finest run of his career on the Spanish island after reaching the quarterfinals of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Miami this year.

"It means a lot, it's just been a lot of hard work and persistence, Throughout my career, there's been some ups and some downs, and things are finally starting to click for me. To finally see myself put together consistent, good play match after match is pretty incredible. Hoping to do one better tomorrow, but right now I'm going to enjoy this one," Eubanks added.