Taylor Fritz held to love when he started his first round singles match against Cameron Norrie in Tokyo this evening, hitting the first two of what would become a procession of aces. Norrie then gave himself a game point with a nice inside-out forehand winner, but then overhit a cross-court backhand to drop back to deuce.
The advantage point had to be replayed after an out call from the line judge was overruled by umpire Raluca Andrei, and the replay showed that she was correct. Norrie then lost the first great rally of the match when Fritz hit a beautiful forehand winner down the line on the 16th shot. He was forced into a return error to go to a second deuce, Norrie getting the advantage this time with a fabulous forehand winner down the line before forcing Fritz to hit his next return into the net. At seven minutes in length, it would remain the longest game in the match.
The only point Fritz dropped in the next game was a double fault, which came after two great rallies and another ace, and he finished by forcing Norrie into a return error. Although slightly shorter in duration than his first service game, Norrie’s second was the only one in the match to get to a third deuce. With three fantastic rallies and four fabulous winning shots, it was probably the best game of the match.
It started with a fabulous inside-out forehand winner from Norrie, and he followed that with an ace, but he lost a fantastic 14 shot rally on the next point to a fabulous backhand winner down the line from Fritz. The American then forced Norrie into a backhand error before hitting a lovely forehand right to the baseline to grab a break point, but gave that away with a backhand over the baseline.
A forehand into the tramlines from Norrie was followed by an unreturnable serve, but a double fault then gave Fritz a third break point. He couldn’t convert that one, either, being forced to hit a cross-court backhand into the tramlines on the 20th shot of another fantastic rally. Norrie won the great rally which came next when he hit a beautiful overhead cross-court forehand volley, and he finally held serve when he forced Fritz to hit a forehand over the baseline.
Fritz started with another ace, but it was Norrie who won the great rally on the second point with a beautiful forehand winner down the line. Fritz found the tramlines next up before Norrie hit a beautiful cross-court forehand winner after the incoming shot had bounced off the net cord, and that gave him two break points.
His own shot hit the net cord on the next point, but it deflected into the tramlines, and he lost another great 20 shot rally when he overhit a forehand. Fritz did the same to end a shorter rally on the next point, and he did the same again to give away the first break of serve.
The highlights kept coming when Norrie served again, Fritz hitting a fantastic forehand winner down the line off a lovely backhand drop volley from Norrie, and that was probably the shot of the match. Norrie went on told serve in the end, winning another great rally on the final point with a fabulous cross-court backhand volley after 17 shots.
It was weird seeing Fritz then hold to love, with two more aces, before normal service resumed when Norrie stepped up again. He was cruising at 40-15, but then hit a backhand over the baseline before Fritz hit a beautiful backhand winner down the line to go to deuce. A return error and a forehand winner from Fritz took them to a second deuce, and Norrie gave away a break point when he overhit a backhand.
What followed was the third 20 shot rally of the match, but this was the best of the lot, and it finished with Fritz hitting a fabulous forehand winner down the line to get the break back. He held to love again, starting with his seventh ace, and that left Norrie, after being a break up, serving to stay in the set.
A cross-court backhand winner from Fritz was succeeded by two forehand unforced errors from Norrie, the second a horrible mishit, and that gave the top seed three set points. Fritz hit a forehand over the baseline to lose a good short rally on the first of them, but converted the second when Norrie gifted him the break with a backhand over the baseline. The set had taken 49 minutes.
The second set didn’t have nearly the same amount of excitement, although Fritz did start with a beautiful cross-court backhand winner, and finished the opening game with another ace. He then broke Norrie to love, forcing Norrie into a couple of errors, and hit two more aces on the way to holding his own serve without losing a point. Norrie hit two aces of his own in the next game to finally hold serve after a run of seven successive games to the American.
There was a great 15 shot rally on the first point of Fritz’s next game, and it went rather against the norm from the earlier rallies in that it was finished by an unforced error, with Fritz hitting a cross-court backhand too far. He went on to win the game with a great forehand winner down the line, but Norrie sparked back into life with a fabulous cross-court backhand drop volley and a beautiful cross-court forehand winner on the way to holding serve again.
Three return errors from Norrie in the next game let Fritz cruise to 40-0, but three errors from the American dropped him back to deuce before he forced Norrie into two more backhand errors to win the game. Norrie held comfortably in the next game, despite being forced into an error to lose another great rally on the opening point when his cross-court backhand ended up in the net.
All that meant Fritz was only a game away from the second round, and he started with a service winner when Norrie’s attempted forehand return was jammed into the ground. He did hit a fabulous forehand winner down the line on the next point, but that was his last hurrah. Another forced error on return was followed by aces number 12 and 13, both of them out wide, and the match was all over after an hour and 20 minutes. The final score was 6-4, 6-3.