Place in history books now next up for Norrie
CAM NORRIE’S impression of Rafael Nadal continues — an aggressive left-handed baseliner with acute concentration bullying his way into big finals.
The 26-year-old southpaw last night powered his way into tonight’s championship match at the BNP Paribas Open when he defeated ex-world No3 Grigor Dimitrov 6-2, 6-4 in 86 minutes.
He will be bidding to become the first British player to win this title in its 45-year existence, as it was never the happiest hunting ground for Andy Murray. After an unpredictable ten days, he was awaiting the winner between American Taylor Fritz and Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili.
Fairly astonishingly, after the triumph of Emma Raducanu in New York, it will mean two different Brits playing huge finals on either side of America within a month of each other.
Norrie is now guaranteed a minimum £466,000 prize money, and in a sign of his versatility has reached a final on clay, grass and hard courts this season. He is also moving right into contention to gain a place in next month’s year-end tour finals in Italy.
‘I’m so happy, I really enjoyed my time on the court today,’ he said. ‘Grigor didn’t bring his best today but I will take it. I was very solid, I hit a lot to his backhand and he was getting pretty frustrated.
‘I felt good coming out. I was physical, putting a lot of balls in the court and was able to dictate with my forehand. It’s the biggest win of my career. Turin is on the cards now and that’s really special.’
Once again Norrie’s combination of spun forehand and cleverly directed backhand proved hugely effective. Often it forced the Bulgarian into errors as he tried to avoid long rallies.
Notable, also, has been Norrie’s Nadal-esque focus on every point, and his ability to reset after any setback. Nobody in the men’s game has emerged a better player from the pandemic and he has closed to within four of a half-century of main draw wins this year.
Norrie will have been heartened by his only previous meeting with Dimitrov this year, a straight sets win in Miami, where the courts are slightly quicker and would give him less of an edge than those in the Californian desert.
Dimitrov, however, had this week belied the perception that he can be soft by scoring comeback wins over US Open champion Daniil Medvedev and Wimbledon semifinalist Hubert Hurkacz.
While he might be said to be part of men’s tennis’s lost generation, there has never been any doubt about his pure talent.
The stadium crowd was again much more sparse than would usually be the case, and this event will be delighted to revert to its usual slot in March next year and get closer to its normal numbers.
As in his previous match against Diego Schwartzman, Norrie raced away to a 4-0 lead. He then played a solitary poor game but then resumed as if nothing had happened.
Dimitrov briefly threatened when he came close to wiping out his opponent’s 2-0 lead in the second set. This being his first Masters level semi-final, one might have expected Norrie to get more nervous within sight of the winning post, but he came out to serve for it at 5-4 as if it was a knock-up in the park.
Murray, Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski have all made the final at this extravagant venue in the past but failed to win it. The force seems to be with Norrie to go one better.
There had been expectations that it would be Raducanu, rather than him, who would still be around for the Indian Wells finals weekend.
She is now preparing for next week’s Transylvania Open in Romania, but has left behind a further reminder of the state of flux that exists in the women’s game.
Tonight’s final will be between world No32 Victoria Azarenka and the No27, Paula Badosa from Spain. While it will have been less noticed than in New York, none of the top eight seeds managed to make the women’s quarter-finals.