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Bedene stays cool to topple lively Norrie
British No 2 Cameron Norrie slipped to defeat after slovenian Aljaz Bedene recovered from losing the first set to land a bitter blow on the country he represented only last year.
this early-evening contest was a very modern take on a Battle of Britain clash. Norrie was born in south Africa to scottish and Welsh parents before being raised in New Zealand.
Despite this defeat, Norrie’s rise remains remarkable considering he only turned professional just over a year ago. Before then, the 22-year-old was studying sociology at texas Christian University, where he emerged as a star on the American college tennis scene. Bedene has his own curious story. he represented Great Britain between March 2015 and December 2017 through residency rules but he is slovenian once more after the authorities ruled that he would not be allowed to play for Britain in the Davis Cup or Olympic Games.
the Wimbledon natives were with Norrie and he stirred the crowd early on with his splendid backhand and he sealed the first set 6-4.
Yet these two players are fiercely competitive and Bedene soon responded. he restored parity by holding his nerve to win a tiebreak in a 52-minute second set before repeating the trick in a 48-minute third set that Norrie conceded with a double fault.
in a match decided by the skimpiest of margins, Norrie’s inexperience perhaps surfaced at the wrong moment.
Bedene broke Norrie’s serve for the first time outside a tie-break in the fourth set with a rasping forehand that forced his rival into the net.
he impressed, too, with his fitness and his aggression, which edged out Norrie. Yet this remained a positive display by the young Briton.
Norrie said: ‘i think i handled the occasion really well. i was less stressed than last year. i’m happy and have no regrets. if i want to be a better player, i have to be aggressive. i am happy to go out today and maybe make the quarters in the future.’
Bedene was on the wrong side of harsh line calls at a pivotal moment in the second set and he credited harry Kane’s two-goal display for England against tunisia as his inspiration.
‘harry Kane sticks to what he knows best and doesn’t go against referees,’ he said. ‘i watched the match against tunisia and he was brought down in the box so many times. i would have freaked out! so i thought of him and he kept me cool. harry is amazing. i like tottenham and i will have my England harry Kane shirt on tomorrow in training!’
Earlier in the afternoon, Liam Broady suffered a humbling defeat by Milos raonic.
raonic, a 6ft 5in Canadian powerhouse with a whopping serve, was made to battle during the first set before he triumphed 7-5. After that Broady became the victim of a landslide. raonic, the finalist beaten by Andy Murray in the 2016 final, produced a devastating display of force in the second set, blitzing Broady 6-0 before dropping only one game in the final set to seal victory.
Broady said: ‘i have never played someone with a serve that big. i was looking at the ball bouncing against the back fence and thinking, “What’s just happened there?” the heat on the ball is crazy.’