Sleepy Paire no match for Norrie
Auckland-raised Cameron Norrie saw off tired Frenchman Benoit Paire 6-3 6-2 at the ASB Classic yesterday.
Norrie, who plays for Britain, produced consistent tennis, served well and looked to mix up his play, while Paire was all over the place, even having a quick nap during the match.
Paire has always been known as a player whose motivation can swing wildly during a match and yesterday spent most of his time looking like he had plenty of things he’d prefer to be doing instead of playing tennis.
It was all fairly run of the mill stuff until Paire was broken when serving at 3-4.
He double faulted twice in the game and in other points looked even more casual.
Norrie struggled but managed to hold serve in the next game to win the set, with Paire bizarrely clapping Norrie as he walked to his chair. At one stage it looked as if Paire had fallen asleep at a change of ends.
Norrie broke again in the third game of the next set and that was pretty much it.
‘‘He came out and served really well, I was obviously a little bit nervous, the first time playing on that court and it was a bit windy too,’’ Norrie said.
‘‘But I tried to enjoy it. I fought off some break points at the start of the first set and then managed to play a good game to break.
‘‘I managed to out-tough him in the second and I freed up my forehand to be aggressive, to move the ball around the court, then I was quickly up to the drop shots he was playing, so a clean match I thought.’’
Norrie said he spotted how lackadaisical Paire was on court,
but for him he had to ignore it and keep his intensity up.
‘‘I didn’t want to fall into the trap of taking him lightly, when he’s being casual. He’s still serving well and hitting some drop shots extremely well, so it’s tough to stay focused and he is playing quickly.’’
Before that match on Centre Court, Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber beat American qualifier Bradley Klahn 6-4 7-6 in a match that lasted an hour and a half.
‘‘The competition is high here and he came through qualifying, so maybe there is a little advantage
for him,’’ Kohlschreiber said.
‘‘At the beginning of the year you try to find your rhythm in the matches and it was good.
‘‘ Most of the time I was in a good spot during the match, so I felt well and it was nice to play here.’’
In the other match on the Grandstand Court, the talented
21-year-old American, Taylor Fritz, who is ranked 50 in the world, had to battle hard to beat Marius Copil, of Romania, 4-6 6-3
6-4.
Fritz will now play American John Isner in the second round tomorrow.