Halle Open: Lloyd Harris vs. Lukas Lacko 6/17/21 Tennis Prediction

South African Lloyd Harris will face Lukas Lacko of Slovakia in the Round of 16 at the 2021 Halle Open. The match is scheduled to be played on Thursday June 17th, 2021 at 6:30am EST.

This matchup between unseeded players Lloyd Harris and Lukas Lacko is not one that man would have expected, but both men have played well and deserve to have reached this stage. Harris is the massive favorite here due to his superior ranking and will be aiming to reach his first Quarter-Final on grass. Can the Qualifier Lacko cause the massive upset and get the win here?

Lloyd Harris started the 2021 season very well, with a Finals run in Dubai where he lost to Aslan Karatsev. The tall South African has however been in very poor form since, and will be hoping to get back on track here in Halle. After an early exit at Roland Garros, he entered the tournament in Stuttgart to get some grass court exposure but fell early on to Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, the eventual runner-up. Harris does not have much experience on grass, but certainly has the game to do well on the surface with a booming serve and big groundstrokes. He was impressive in his First Round win over the struggling Gael Monfils, stopping the Frenchman in straight sets. Harris enters this match against Lukas Lacko as the favorite, and seems destined to reach the Quarters here at the 2021 Halle Open.

Lukas Lacko is currently ranked #214 in the ATP rankings and entered the 2021 Halle Open as a Qualifier. The Slovak was not expected to win his opening match against Guido Pella, but played some outstanding tennis to defeat the former Wimbledon Quarter-Finalist. Lacko does have a bit of grass court experience, reaching the Final of Eastbourne a few years ago, and will be a dangerous opponent here for Lloyd Harris as he is playing with nothing to lose. If he serves well he could make things interesting by potentially taking the sets to tiebreaks, where anything could happen.

Despite Lukas Lacko having the big advantage when it comes to grass court experience, I am going with Lloyd Harris to win this match. The tall South African has been having a breakout year in 2021, and has matured greatly as a player. With his big game he will likely be able to control the pace of the match, and shouldn’t have too many issues advancing to the Quarter-Finals here at the 2021 Halle Open.