Norrie has followed up his Wimbledon semi-final run by reaching the final at the ATP Tour event in Los Cabos, the third round in Montreal and now the last four in Cincinnati; he could now be seeded in the top eight at a grand slam for the first time when the US Open begins on August 29
Sunday 21 August 2022 22:40, UK
Cameron Norrie will hit a new career-high ranking of nine despite losing to Borna Coric in the semi-finals of the Western and Southern Open.
The British number one became the latest victim of Croatian Coric's return to the big time following shoulder surgery as he added to his wins over Rafael Nadal and Felix Auger-Aliassime by seeing off Norrie 6-3 6-4 - and he will now play Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final after he knocked out world No 1 Daniil Medvedev.
Norrie had beaten Spanish third seed Carlos Alcaraz 7-6 (4) 6-7 (4) 6-4 to set up a last-four showdown with Coric and has followed up his Wimbledon semi-final run by reaching the final at the ATP Tour event in Los Cabos, the third round of the Masters tournament in Montreal and now the last four again in Cincinnati.
Norrie's excellent form sees him climb above Hubert Hurkacz and Andrey Rublev to surpass the previous high ranking of 10 that he achieved in April.
He will now head to New York to prepare for the US Open, which begins on August 29, and, with Novak Djokovic looking highly unlikely to play and Alexander Zverev also a doubt, Norrie looks set to be a top-eight seed at a grand slam for the first time.
As for Coric, beating Norrie saw him reach his second ATP Masters 1000 final - and first since undergoing shoulder surgery last year - and he did so with a commanding performance against the Briton, who offered little resistance against his opponent's heavy hitting from the baseline.
Ninth seed Norrie started brightly and raced into a 3-1 lead before Coric found his groove to win five straight games and secure the opening set.
"It was a very tough day, a very long day as well," said Coric after both men's semi-finals were delayed due to rain.
"At the beginning I was not there, I was not feeling the ball very well. Then I did find my rhythm. I started to serve better, I started to play much better and I think that was the key to the match."
Coric, who struck 22 winners in all, kept up the momentum in the second set, clinching eight straight points to take a 4-2 lead before closing out the match to set up a third career meeting with Tsitsipas.
Fourth seed Tsitsipas edged Medvedev 7-6(6) 3-6 6-3 in an absorbing semi-final to set up a summit clash with Coric.
Tsitsipas saved a set point in the opening tie-break to take the lead but collapsed in stunning fashion in the second set, falling behind 5-0 before narrowly avoiding a bagel.
But the Greek, who had just two wins in nine matches against Medvedev coming into the encounter, raised his game in the decider and broke the US Open champion at 3-2 before comfortably serving out the match with some exquisite net play.
"I felt like the ball wasn't really flying off his racquet," Tsitsipas, who later withdrew from the doubles semi-finals alongside Holger Rune, told reporters.
"I felt like he was trying too hard, and that's when I knew that I pushed him there, and it was something that I did over many consecutive rallies, a lot of physical effort. I knew that was my opportunity to go and strike."
Sunday will be Tsitsipas' first final appearance in Cincinnati and his fifth overall in 2022.
"I'm prepared for it," said the former Roland Garros finalist. "I know it's not an easy task playing against him. You know, he's coming back from an injury, he's playing great tennis, and he's going to work very hard for it."
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