Norrie fights back to reach Argentina Open quarters
British number one Cameron Norrie dug deep to claim victory over home wildcard Facundo Diaz Acosta in his first outing at the Argentina Open.
The world number 12 needed to fight back from behind to see off the local favourite 4-6 7-5 7-6 (6) in Buenos Aires.
Norrie, the second seed, will now face another Argentinian in Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the quarter-finals.
Top seed and former world number one Carlos Alcaraz was successful in his long-awaited comeback.
The US Open champion, who was forced to miss the Australian Open through injury, battled past Serbian Laslo Djere 6-2 4-6 6-2.
The 19-year-old Spaniard has not played since November and recently lost top spot in the rankings to veteran Novak Djokovic.
“It’s a great feeling to win again,” Alcaraz said.
“It’sbeenalongtimeforme, no competition and no matches, just recovery. And finally I got my first win of 2023.”
Alcaraz will next face anotherSerbianinDusanLajovic, who suffered a straight-sets loss in the pair’s only previous meeting in the second round of last year’s Australian Open.
In Rotterdam, world number five Andrey Rublev lost 6-4 6-4 to Australian Alex De Minaur at the ABN AMRO Open.
Meanwhile,part-timeplayer Matija Pecotic has bowed out of the Delray Beach Open in Florida.
The 33-year-old Croatian said he was going to "have to ask for another day off" from his full-time job in finance after a shock win against former worldnumbereightJackSock.
Pecoticlosthislast16match againsttheUnitedStates'Marcos Giron, the latter progressing with a 6-3 6-3 victory.