Isle of Man tennis ace Billy Harris stands on the brink of qualifying for his second Grand Slam tournament.

The former Castletown and Albany member, who turns 30 later this month, will face Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak during the early hours of Thursday morning with the victor guaranteed a place in the Australian Open’s main draw.

Harris, who played in the main Wimbledon tournament for the first time last summer, battled past Japan's Yuta Shimizu 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-4 in the first round of qualifying before cruising to a 6-1 6-2 victory over Spain's Carlos Taberner in the second round on Wednesday morning.

The Manx player is currently ranked 126 in the world, nine places below his opponent who was ranked as high as 75 in 2022.

Last week Harris was part of the Great Britain squad that took part in the United Cup in Sydney, playing in team games against Argentina, hosts Australia and Poland as GB bowed out at the tournament’s quarter-final stage.

Prior to the competition, Harris reflected on his year which included making his Davis Cup debut in September: ‘It was a good year for me. Starting the year around 200 and finishing around 120. It was the best year I've had so far.

‘I've got to be pleased with that, but I’m always looking to push further. It's great to get some team events, like Davis Cup, and this week in Sydney.’

With two tour-level matches to his name at the start of 2024, Harris played 13 last season and won seven of them. Harris thrived on grass, advancing to the quarter-finals at Queen’s Club and the semi-finals in Eastbourne.

Harris added: ‘I think each level you move up, you have to adapt, otherwise you’re straight back down into the Futures [series]. So you have to improve just to keep up on each level.’