Cameron Norrie secured his first career win over Andy Murray in three tough sets; Murray suffered with significant cramp in the latter stages of the match; Norrie progresses into the round of 16 to face wildcard Ben Shelton, who beat fifth seed Casper Ruud
Wednesday 17 August 2022 23:24, UK
Cameron Norrie edged out fellow Brit Andy Murray 3-6 6-3 6-4 at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.
The Davis Cup team-mates had only faced each other once before on Tour back in 2019 and went toe-to-toe for the majority of the match, before Murray suffered with cramp in his quad late in the third set.
After being broken at 4-4 in the final set, Murray received treatment from the physio at the changeover. He put Norrie under significant pressure in the next game, but the British No 1 held firm to hold on and clinch victory.
Following the match, Murray continued to suffer significant pain in his quad and needed further treatment to just try and walk off the court.
Norrie will take on the American wildcard Ben Shelton, who beat fifth seed Casper Ruud 6-3 6-3, in the next round.
First, the Brit will return to the court later on Wednesday for a doubles match alongside his Australian partner Alex de Minaur. The duo take on Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies.
"I think there really wasn't much in it," Norrie said after to Amazon Prime.
"It just came down to a little bit of physicality and it didn't really help him [Murray] that his match with Stan [Wawrinka] went really, really long. He was struggling a little bit towards the end and I just tried to put a lot of balls in the court in the end.
"For me, I'm still battling with the conditions a little bit, trying to get used to them. I'm trying to find rhythm on my serve, I've got a doubles match later to try and work on that. I really just got through with my attitude, I just tried to stay as positive as I could."
After there was an exchange of breaks in the first two games, Murray assumed control and dictated the points.
He missed the chance to break in Norrie's second service game but continued to play on his terms and eventually broke at 4-3 before serving out the next game to take the first set.
The Scot, who was reduced to tears after his emotional first-round win over Stan Wawrinka, had the perfect opportunity to grasp an even firmer control of the match in the opening game of the season as he forced break point.
But with the court gaping he put a routine volley wide and Norrie survived.
And that miss proved big as Norrie began to knock on the door. Murray was able to save break points at 2-3, but could not repeat the trick at 3-4 as the British No 1 struck to go 5-3 up.
He had 40-0 as he try to force an immediate break back, but Norrie got himself out of trouble and served out the second set.
Murray regrouped and his big moment came in a lengthy sixth game, but he squandered three break points and Norrie survived, again.
Eventually all those missed opportunities came back to haunt the 35-year-old, a double fault handed his compatriot the crucial break.
In the final game, Murray put his fellow Brit under pressure but his struggles with cramp increased and Norrie got enough balls back in play to seal victory.
Elsewhere in the draw, Taylor Fritz beat Nick Kyrgios 6-3 6-2 to advance and he will face Andrey Rublev next.
In a clash of big servers, it was the American No 1 who came out on top, sending down 16 aces against a misfiring Kyrgios who hit just seven and offset most of those with six double faults.
The 11th-seeded Fritz needed just 51 minutes to condemn Kyrgios to his second defeat since losing to Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final.
Such was Fritz's domination on serve that Kyrgios could not muster a single break opportunity, while the American converted three of his seven chances.
"It feels great to have my game come together today," said Fritz. "That's the kind of match I really needed to give me a lot of confidence going into the next match, going to the US Open, a lot of things are clicking for sure."
Stefanos Tsitsipas and Diego Schwartzman will now meet in the round of 16 after Tsitsipas' 6-3 6-4 result against Filip Krajinovic and Schwartzman overcame Aslan Karatsev in three sets 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 6-2.
The 19-year-old American Shelton continued his dream ATP Masters 1000 debut by dismissing Ruud 6-3 6-3, the day after he'd beaten Lorenzo Sonego.
Shelton spent just 68 minutes on court and it marks his first win over a top-10 player.
Seventh seed Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov both picked up victories.
Auger-Aliassime cruised past De Minaur 6-3 6-2, while Shapovalov rallied for 3-6 6-4 6-3 win over in-form American Tommy Paul to register back-to-back victories for the first time since May.
