NORRIE DOWNED IN EPIC
JAY CLARKE and Cameron Norrie lost an epic men’s doubles match that ended almost 48 hours after it began. The British pair lost 6-4, 6-7, 5-7, 6-4, 22-20 to Chile’s Hans Podlipnik-Castillo and Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador. The match started on Wednesday but rain forced the players off after 13 minutes. They resumed on Thursday and played until 9.20pm. Yesterday they finally finished, bringing the total time of the match to five hours and two minutes. ‘I actually feel good (physically),’
said Norrie afterwards. ‘It was quite tough to concentrate out there. But it was a great experience to play in a match like that at Wimbledon.’ It was the joint-second longest doubles match here since the introduction of the tiebreak in 1979. Norrie and Clarke held serve to stay in the match 16 times in the final set and saved eight match points but they created few chances. Clarke had little time to rest before playing his mixed doubles match with fellow Brit Harriet Dart last night. ‘I saw him in the ice bath and said, “Good luck with that one”,’ added Norrie. There were four wins for British players in the men’s doubles, led by Jamie Murray. The Scot was cheered by mum Judy as he and Brazilian partner Bruno Soares beat Paolo Lorenzi and Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-5, 6-2, 6-1.