It’s interesting that, back in the dim distant past, Cameron Norrie beat Alexander Zverev the first two times they played, in Canada and Australia, but the second of those was in 2014 and he hasn’t beaten the German since. This morning was their fourth meeting at tour level, and Norrie had taken him to a first set tie-break in the three previous matches, but that wasn’t to be the case here. I didn’t get to see much of it, especially once Michael Venus and Jamie Murray got underway, so I was watching the replay as I wrote this. Norrie was in trouble right from the start, losing his serve when Zverev won a fabulous rally on the final point with a fantastic backhand winner down the line. Zverev then held comfortably before hitting a fabulous cross-court backhand winner in the third game.
Zverev then hit a beautiful backhand winner down the line to get a break point in the fifth game, and Norrie double faulted to give the game away. He looked like he might get one of the breaks back in the next game when Zverev hit a poor backhand to go to 0-40. An unreturnable serve saved the first break point, but the highlight in the game was his fabulous cross-court forehand to win a good rally on the next point. He got back to deuce with a nice backhand volley to end another good short rally, and an ace and another unreturnable serve won him the game. Norrie held comfortably next time round, but Zverev got his first set point with an ace. He gave that away with a cross-court backhand into the tramlines, but got a second when Norrie found the net at the end of another good rally, and Norrie’s final return flew back over the baseline to end the set after 36 minutes.
Norrie held to love to start the second set, but he lost the third game when he pushed a forehand into the net to end a good 15 shot rally. He did hit a fabulous cross-court backhand to force Zverev into an error in the next game, but all that did was save the first game point. Norrie gave away a break point in the seventh game with a forehand over the baseline, but that was where Zverev’s return of the next serve went as well. Norrie got the advantage with a fabulous forehand winner down the line, and Zverev hit the final forehand on the next point into the net. Norrie then had a medical time-out for treatment to his right knee and thigh.
The next two games went with serve, leaving Zverev on the cusp of winning the match. However, he caught the net cord at the ed of another good rally, and the ball bouncing back on his side gave Norrie two break points. An ace saved the first, and Norrie’s forehand return of the second went over the baseline. An easy forehand winner down the line gave Zverev a match point, and Norrie’s backhand return went into the net to end the match after an hour and 16 minutes. The final score was 6-2, 6-4.