Confidence boost for Norrie

CAMERON NORRIE eased into the third round of the Italian Open with a muchneeded victory that he hopes will help his clay court season catch fire. British No 1 Norrie has yet to impress on the surface this season, winning one match each in Barcelona and Madrid and losing his first encounter in Monte-Carlo, so a 6-2, 6-3 victory over French qualifier Alexandre Muller was a welcome sign of progress. While it was a match Norrie would certainly have expected to win, the manner of his success was particularly encouraging, with the 27-year-old facing only one break point and taking his own chances confidently. ‘I want to try to peak for Roland Garros,’ said Norrie. ‘It always takes me longer to play well. I’m definitely finding my feet on the clay.’ Next the 13th seed will face Hungarian Marton Fucsovics, who upset Australian Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-4. Elsewhere, Italian No 1 Jannik Sinner made a strong start to his campaign, beating Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-1, 6-4, while another Australian, Alexei Popyrin, upset Felix Auger-Aliassime and Grigor Dimitrov saw off Stan Wawrinka. The performance of the day, though, came from women’s world No 1 Iga Swiatek, who responded to her Madrid Open final loss to Aryna Sabalenka by thumping former French Open runnerup Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-0, 6-0. The Russian saved six set points in the opener but couldn’t get on the board. Swiatek lost on her Rome debut in 2020 to Arantxa Rus but is now on a 12-match winning streak in the Italian capital. ‘When I’m playing these kind of matches, I’m just trying to be focused,’ said the Pole. ‘I’m trying to remember what got me this nice score, what I should do to continue playing that well.’