Norrie roars back to stun ninth seed
BRITAIN’S Cam Norrie last night had the distinction of playing and winning the first very long, and very strange, match of the 2020 US Open.
There was no crowd and no atmosphere but plenty of heart on show as he came from two sets behind to defeat the No 9 seed, Diego Schwartzman of Argentina, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 7-5 in a shade under four hours.
The British No 3 emerged victorious from an encounter that featured a whopping 58 break points in what may prove to be a precursor to plenty tales of the unexpected unfolding at Flushing Meadows this year.
Nobody knows quite who is going to be in what sort of shape in this tournament but it was clear that Norrie has sufficient mileage in his legs.
Diminutive South American Schwartzman was virtually out on his feet by the end, and unravelled from 5-3 up just when it looked like left-hander Norrie had blown his multitude of chances.
He saved one match point at 5-3 in the decider and another at 5-4 before sweeping to the win, with his opponent so exhausted that he looked on the verge of severe cramp. Schwartzman could not even sit down at the final changeover before Norrie managed to snatch the last and decisive break.
Any time a men’s match sees more than half a century of break points, it is highly unusual.
Former US college star Norrie converted 11 of his 31 while he ceded 27 to Schwartzman as he set up a second-round contest against another Argentinian, Federico Coria.
‘I’m pretty tired actually,’ said Norrie, born in Johannesburg to a Scottish father and Welsh mother. ‘Honestly, for me, the tennis and the level wasn’t that great but I had a really good attitude throughout. I was happy with that. I was lucky to get through that one.’
He admitted that the number of break points was not necessarily that flattering. ‘I’m not sure if that’s a good stat to have. In the first couple of sets, I missed so many second-serve returns on the advantage side when I had break points.
‘I was getting frustrated but I stayed patient and managed to convert way more at the end. Fifty eight is a lot.
‘The first two sets, I was rushing everything, going for too much. I was making too many errors. He’d done almost nothing to be two sets up.’
Indeed, it was rarely pretty and this might be a taste of things to come, with so many players lacking in matches with the tour having been suspended until last week since early March.
Players have had to make do and mend with various exhibition events around the world, and there is going to be a disparity in preparedness. The empty stands are another factor.
Norrie probably owes Jamie Murray a debt due to the latter’s initiative in organising the ‘Battle of the Brits’ events at Roehampton over the summer. That clearly helped put him in excellent shape and it was enough to give him what is comfortably the best Grand Slam win of his career.
Schwartzman let his head drop after being given a time violation in the third set, which followed Norrie escaping one for an audible obscenity, so easily heard amid the uncharacteristic quiet of what is normally the noisiest of the Majors.
Meanwhile, women’s top seed Karolina Pliskova made a successful start to her campaign when she overcame Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina 6-4, 6-0.