Hero Norrie’s chilled over home expectations

CAMERON Norrie is proud of the way he has handled home expectations after surging through to a first grand slam quarter-final at Wimbledon.

Heather Watson’s defeat on Centre Court earlier yesterday had left Norrie in the increasingly familiar situation of being the last Briton standing and looking to break new ground, having made it past the third round for the first time. He did so with aplomb, producing his best performance of the fortnight so far to defeat American 30th seed Tommy Paul 6-4 7-5 6-4 and set up another very winnable match against David Goffin.

“Obviously a great day,” said Norrie, who is only the fifth British man to make the last eight in singles here in the Open era.

“It’s an especially huge match for me and for him, as well. To play the way I did and to handle the occasion, I felt really comfortable the way I was hitting the ball this morning.

“Definitely more comfortable than my other matches.

“It was good to get through that one in the fashion that I did. I was up the whole match, which definitely helped.”

The 26-year-old, seeded ninth after a tremendous 18 months, had to come from two sets to one down to beat Jaume Munar in the second round but has been rock solid in victories over Steve Johnson and Paul.

Asked about carrying the torch alone, Norrie said: “I’ll take it. At the beginning of the tournament, you guys were asking me, ‘You’re British No 1, you got a lot of pressure, a lot of expectations on your shoulders’.

“For me to play the way that I did in all my matches so far means a lot.”