Filip Misolic saved a break point in the first game of his first round match against Cameron Norrie in Vienna this morning, but two forced errors after the deuce gave Norrie the break at his second attempt. The advantage didn’t last long, with Norrie being broken in the next game when forced into an error on the 15th shot of a good rally. There was a 17 shot rally in the fifth game, and a 19 shot rally in the ninth, both ended by winners from Misolic, as games continued to go with serve until Norrie needed to hold to force a tie-break. An unforced error from the left-hander gave Misolic two set points, but he missed his first chance with an unforced error, and I’m guessing that he had more opportunities in what must have been a phenomenal rally on the next point that went for 27 shots.
The next rally went for “only” 18 shots, but Misolic won that to give himself a third set point. A forced return error got Norrie back to deuce, and he was able to win the next two points to finally get to the tie-break. Misolic held to start, and got the first mini-break when winning a 16 shot rally on Norrie’s second point. Norrie got that back two points later when he forced Misolic into an error, and he took the lead when he won the second of Misolic’s next pair of points. He got his first two set points when he then won his first serve, but Misolic saved the first by winning another rally, and then won both his own serves to pick up a fourth set point. This one came courtesy of a forced error from Norrie on the 28th shot of what must have been another terrific rally. Norrie saved that by winning his first point, and got his second set point when forcing Misolic into another error. He won the final point when Misolic served, and that ended the set after an hour and two minutes.
Norrie lost the opening game in the second set when he hit two unforced errors after the second deuce, but there wasn’t a single break point after that, with Misolic eventually serving out the set with an ace after 45 minutes. The extravagant rallies in the first set must have tired them out somewhat, as the longest in the second set was only 16 shots, but the lengthier ones returned with a vengeance when Norrie broke Misolic’s serve in the second game of the final set after the Austrian made an unforced error on the 27th shot of another monster rally.
Misolic didn’t have a prayer of breaking back, because he won just two points off Norrie’s serve in the remainder of the match. There was one more huge rally, Misolic winning his own point in the eighth game after 23 shots, but Norrie wrapped up the match in the next game. The last four points were an ace, a forced return error, and two more aces, Norrie winning 7-6 (7), 4-6, 6-3, in two hours and 24 minutes.