Battling Norrie lifts gloom

CAMERON NORRIE staged a bold recovery to claw his way back from the brink of defeat at Roland Garros last night.

The 22-year-old was two sets down against French 15th seed Lucas Pouille on a noisy Philippe Chatrier Court but staged an astonishing fightback to take the third set before play was finally called to a halt for bad light at 9.42pm local time – just 14 minutes short of the latest ever finish at the French Open, with the score 6-2, 6-4, 5-7.

The South African-born Briton who grew up in New Zealand will return to finish his match and continue his adventure here this morning with a new bounce in his step. It had looked for long spells as though Pouille simply had too much power and craft for the British No 2.

The Frenchman trains with Roger Federer and some of the Swiss legend’s guile was evident in a lot of his play.

Norrie had turfed out Peter Gojowczyk in the first round courtesy of a groin injury that felled the German but there were to be no such lucky breaks in a tough battle last night.

Pouille broke the British player – now ranked 85th in the world – in his first service game and zipped through the first set in just 27 minutes. Norrie, who was playing in only his third Grand Slam tournament, called for the doctor at the end of the second set and seemed to be complaining of a stomach problem.

Norrie looked doomed at that stage but rallied impressively, three times breaking Pouille as he at last found his range – and lived to fight another day.

Kyle Edmund, after his impressive form in the first round in Paris on Tuesday, takes on Hungarian Marton Fucsovics today.

Fucsovics, 26, has a tattoo that reads “Forgive me for my sins” on his forearm. The Barcelona fan and a former Wimbledon junior champion, said: “I won my first Challenger title in 2013 and the week after broke my finger. That’s why I put it there. I thought maybe God was punishing me.”

Fucsovics, ranked 45th in the world, has met Edmund once before, losing to the British No 1 6-2, 6-1 on a hard court at Winston Salem in 2017.

In the women’s draw, Heather Watson will meet Belgian No16 seed Elise Mertens.

Johanna Konta’s miserable run continued as she lost her doubles match with partner Alison Riske 6-3, 4-6, 6-7, after Konta served for the match at 5-4 up in the final set.