Cameron Norrie, the world No.28 and former Indian Wells champion, beat Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego 6-4 6-4 to reach the third round at the BNP Paribas Open, the first ATP 1000 Masters level event of the season.
I was like: ‘I did not do anything that special, just made a lot of first serves. I made fortunate to be through Cameron Norrie
With that 90-minute victory the British No.1 clocked up his 197th singles win on the tour to edge closer to a career landmark of 200. For the season, which has seen his world ranking slip into the twenties, it was only his 9th victory in six tournaments.
Norrie is the only Brit left in the men’s draw and while the scoreline suggests a comfortable win, he did have to hold off the tricky Italian.
Sonego came under early pressure when he faced three break points in the third game, fending off one as Norrie converted the second to go 2-1 up. The Italian nearly broke back in the sixth game but the Brit held for 4-2 thanks to a Sonego backhand error.
In the second set Sonego stormed into a 2-0 lead but then made a number of unforced errors to allow Norrie to quickly break back and then repeated the exercise twice more in the fifth and seventh games to open up a 5-2 lead only to then fail to convert his first match point.
Sonego pulled one of the two breaks back to haul himself into contention but only delayed the inevitable as Norrie finally served out for the win.
Next up for Norrie is the inform French veteran entertainer, Gael Monfils who upset the eighth seed from Poland, Hubert Hurkacz, 6-0 6-7(50) 6-2.
“I missed a couple of balls, and he started playing a little bit better. I missed two first balls that I should make, and I was down 0-30. I was like: ‘I did not do anything that special, just made a lot of first serves. I made fortunate to be through,” Norrie, who won the tournament in 2021, admitted.
The Brit then revealed he has been recovering from an illness over the past few weeks
“I got sick at the end of Rio so I haven’t been able to practise too much,” Norrie told Sky Sports following his win.
“I’ve been trying to recover and that’s why I was happy to be out here. I just need to build back again for Miami and all these matches to try to improve. It’s not easy but you take it for granted sometimes when you’re not feeling well.
“It’s good memories coming here again. I like the courts and facilities. It’s always positive memories and I enjoy coming here year after year.”
Cameron Norrie shakes hands at the net after his straight sets victory overLorenzo Sonego
(Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
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