NZ-raised Briton Cameron Norrie stuns Frances Tiafoe at Wimbledon

RNZ News

5 days ago

Britain's Cameron Norrie
Photo:
GLYN KIRK/AFP
New Zealand-raised British tennis star Cameron Norrie returned to his favourite patch of Wimbledon turf to stun American 12th seed Frances Tiafoe and reach the third round with a 4-6 6-4 6-3 7-5 win on Thursday.
Court One might lack the aura of the All England Club's historic Centre Court, but Norrie loves it, having won three matches there during his semi-final run in 2022. The chemistry was clear for all to see again on a mercifully fresh Wimbledon day as the world number 61 recovered from losing a tight first set to bamboozle a flat-looking Tiafoe.
"I was really happy with the schedule when I saw I was on Court One as it's my favourite court," Norrie, who has reached the third round for the fourth time, said.
"We both played high level but I stayed so calm and I really enjoyed the battle. The atmosphere was amazing."
New Zealand's Erin Routliffe and her Canadian partner Gaby Dabrowski won their opening doubles match beating a Chinese pair.
Norrie, 29, who grew up in Auckland before moving to the UK, was one of seven home players who won their first-round singles matches on Tuesday -- a British record of wins for a single day at Wimbledon in the professional era.
All seven were back on Thursday, with Sonay Kartal continuing the charge as she thrashed Bulgaria's Viktoriya Tomova 6-2 6-2 to book her place in the last 32.
"Today was a good day at the office," she said.
Katie Boulter followed Norrie on Court One for her clash with Argentina's Solana Sierra, while British number one Emma Raducanu was also in action later on day three against 2023 champion Marketa Vondrousova.
Norrie's reign as British number one was ended by Jack Draper, who he surprisingly beat on Court One last year in the second round, and he has struggled to reach the heights of 2021 when he won the Miami Open and 2022 when he lost to Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals at Wimbledon.
He lost in the first round of both his warm-up events on grass, but after an excursion on Court 18 on Tuesday, where he beat Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut, he was handed a Court One slot for his clash with Tiafoe.
Initially it was the free-hitting Tiafoe who looked right at home, taking a tight opening set with a single break of serve.
But everything changed at the end of the second. Norrie found himself in big trouble when serving at 4-4, going down 0-40. But he reeled off five points in a row to avert the danger and broke in the next game with a superb low backhand winner to snatch the set.
Left-hander Norrie, who had never previously beaten a top-20 player at Wimbledon, bristled with energy in the third set, dictating the points as Tiafoe began to fade.
Norrie failed to capitalise on one break of serve as he allowed Tiafoe to reply, but another break proved decisive as he moved to within one set of victory. Tiafoe left the court for seven minutes for a bathroom break before the start of the fourth set but Norrie refused to be thrown off his stride and broke serve for a 4-3 lead. Again Tiafoe responded, but Norrie was relentless as he again pounced on the American's serve before completing victory.
Tiafoe's exit means 14 of the 32 men's seeds are out of the tournament less than halfway through the first week.
- Reuters