Norrie brushed aside by clinical Djokovic

Cameron Norrie’s stellar season ended with a chastening defeat by Novak Djokovic at the ATP Finals in Turin last night.

The British No 1 took on the world No 1 for the first time in a fitting end to the best year of his career.

His reward for 50 match wins, a maiden ATP title at Indian Wells and a climb to 12th in the world was entry into the Finals as second alternate following injuries to Matteo Berrettini and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Defeat by Casper Ruud scuppered any chance of progressing to the semifinals and with Djokovic already through, the roundrobin stage ended with a dead rubber.

But if anyone queried five-time winner Djokovic’s motivation he immediately proved them wrong, racing away with the first set in 28 minutes.

Norrie, 26, had his moments; a couple of sizzling passing shots and a break point in the second.

But he was left in no doubt about the gulf in class between Djokovic and those in the chasing pack following a 6-2 6-1 defeat.

Djokovic plays Alexander Zverev in the last four.

Ruud defied the odds to upset Andrey Rublev 2-6 7-5 7-6 (5) and set up a semifinal showdown with Daniil Medvedev.

The 22-year-old world number eight – the first Norwegian to appear at the Finals – is now the first Scandinavian to reach the last four since Sweden’s Robin Soderling in 2009.

Earlier Great Britain’s Joe Salisbury made it through to the last four in the doubles.

Salisbury and American partner Rajeev Ram beat Colombian duo Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 7-5 2-6 11-9 after a match tie-break in the deciding set.

Salisbury is the last Brit standing in Turin with Norrie departing and Jamie Murray, alongside Bruno Soares, missing out in the doubles. Murray and Soares’ campaign ended with a 6-3 7-6 (5) defeat against Nicolas Mahut and PierreHugues Herbert.