NORRIE CLOSING IN ON EDMUND’S BRIT No 1 SPOT
ANDY MURRAY may be a long-term absentee but as soon as this afternoon there could be two British men inside the world’s top 40. Cameron Norrie will join Kyle Edmund there if he can gain one more win today and make the quarter-finals of the Monte Carlo Open on his first appearance at this historic clay court event. The 23-year-old southpaw will become a member of the top 40 club if he can defeat Italian qualifier Lorenzo Sonego, having earned that winnable third-round draw by beating Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics 7-6, 6-3. The cosmopolitan Norrie is closing on Edmund and will soon be threatening his place as British No 1 if he keeps this up. It could lead to an intriguing situation in regards to the new ATP Cup team competition in Australia at the start of next season. One facet of the event is that a qualifying country’s No 1 player — and GB is likely to qualify — gets to choose the team captain. Norrie suggested yesterday that long-established Davis Cup supremo Leon Smith, in charge of the 2015 triumph, is not an automatic choice. ‘Tough question,’ he said. ‘I think it would be between a couple of guys. Facu, my coach (Argentine Facundo Lugones), I know he gets on well with Evo (Dan Evans), so he could be a good one. ‘Leon is not a bad option, either. And I get on well with Trotters (James Trotman, who is working with him in Monaco this week). He knows the players pretty well and he’s coached Kyle in the past. He’s another good option. I’ll see. I don’t know. Hopefully I get to pick that one.’ It may yet come to pass, especially as Edmund — currently world No 23 — gives the impression that he has yet to really come to terms with the pressure of having such a lofty ranking. Norrie had never won a Masters-level match before this week but worked hard from the baseline against world No 37 Fucsovics and recovered from 2-5 down in the first set. ‘It’s been a couple of years since we have had three guys in the top 100 from the UK,’ said Norrie, who was brought up largely in New Zealand by British parents. ‘It’s nice to have guys around similar rankings supporting each other and having that culture that some other countries have, like Argentinian guys and the French guys.’ The aforementioned Dan Evans, ranked 89th, was confirmed yesterday as having a direct entry to the French Open next month, a reward for his strong results this season. The guaranteed British singles contingent at Roland Garros will be Edmund, Norrie, Evans, Jo Konta and Katie Boulter. While Norrie has made a heartening debut in Monte Carlo, 11-time champion Rafael Nadal looked ominously masterful on his first appearance of the season on European clay, defeating Roberto Bautista Agut 6-1, 6-1.