British No 2 Cam Norrie has risen to No 50 in the world and is closing in on his career-high No 41 achieved last May; the 25-year-old has made quarter-final appearances in Barcelona and Acapulco as well as the semi-finals in Delray Beach already this year
Tuesday 27 April 2021 19:01, UK
Cam Norrie continued his fine 2021 season with a comfortable win over Portugal's Joao Sousa in the first round of the Estoril Open.
The British No 2 is back in the top 50 after reaching the quarter-finals of the Barcelona Open last week and has been playing consistently well all year.
Sousa is a former top-30 player, but he has had a miserable last 18 months and is now ranked outside the top 100.
Norrie dominated the first set and, although Sousa improved in the second, his opponent was too strong and eased to a 6-1 6-3 victory, setting up a second-round clash with Spanish qualifier Pedro Martinez - ranked 100 in the world.
Speaking on Amazon Prime Video, Norrie said: "I think I'm playing some of my best clay-court tennis. I had a good week last week.
"It's just nice to get some matches on the clay, especially leading in before the French Open and some of the bigger tournaments. I'm just trying to progress and get one per cent better every match."
Heather Watson's disappointing season continued, though, with a 6-3 6-3 loss to Swiss Stefanie Voegele in the first round of qualifying for the Madrid Open.
Watson has lost five of her last six matches, all but one to lower-ranked players.
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