Norrie withdraws from Australian tuneup event
Top-ranked Briton Cameron
Norrie faces an injury battle ahead of next week’s Australian Open after withdrawing from the ATP Auckland (New Zealand) Open with a wrist injury.
The 19th-ranked Englishman was due to face Chilean qualifier Alejandro Tabilo in a quarterfinal but moments before the center-court match was to begin, news broke that Norrie would not be able to play.
The injury is to his right wrist and he is expected to have scans to determine its nature and seriousness.
Norrie, who is seeded-19th for the Australian Open, has been drawn to play Juan Pablo Varillas of Peru in the first round at Melbourne Park starting Sunday.
Auckland-born Norrie is a crowd favorite at the New Zealand tournament and has reached the final in both of the last two years. With only the top two seeds and the sixth seed remaining in this year’s tournament, he seemed on course again to reach the final and a likely meeting with top-seeded American Ben Shelton.
Shelton, ranked-16th, progressed to the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena, who played well above his ranking of 67..
Shelton’s opponent in the semifinal will be Japanese-American Taro Daniel, who beat French qualifier Alexandre Muller 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-3.
Tabilo will face Arthur Fils of France who reached the semifinals when Daniel Altmeier of Germany retired with Fils leading 7-6 (2), 1-0 in the last quarterfinal.
• Third-seeded Sebastian Korda advanced to the Adelaide (Australia) International semifinals for the second year in a row after beating Australian wildcard entry Christopher O’Connell 6-4, 6-4.
The 23-year-old American made last year’s final in Adelaide, where he lost to top-seeded Novak Djokovic in three sets after holding a championship point.
Korda will face Jiri Lehecka in the semifinals after the seventh-seeded Czech player beat Nicolas
Jarry 6-4, 7-5.
Alexander Bublik earned a 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-5 win over fourth-seeded Lorenzo Musetti to set up a semifinal against Jack Draper, who beat top-seeded Tommy Paul 6-1, 6-4.
Sixth-seeded and 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko also advanced to the semifinals with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Marta Kostyuk in Adelaide.
Elena Rybakina, last year’s Australian Open finalist and winner of the Brisbane International on Sunday, was upset 6-3, 6-3 by Ekaterina Alexandrova. Ostapenko will play Alexandrova in the semifinals.
• The BNP Paribas Open is increasing its total prize money by more than $1.4 million to $19 million for the two-week combined men’s and women’s tournament at Indian Wells. The tournament runs March 3-17 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.