Cameron Norrie saved a match point to stun third seed Alex de Minaur at the Canadian Open on Thursday. The draw in Montreal has fallen apart, with big names pulling out and suffering early exits. Going into the third round, De Minaur was the highest-ranked player left in the draw, and one of just two top-10 stars left.
Epic comeback from match point down
The Aussie appeared to be cruising to victory when he raced into a double-break lead in the second set. But he double-faulted on his only match point at 5-2, and was twice broken when serving for the match as Norrie stormed back to claim an impressive 5-7 7-6(5) 6-1 comeback victory.
The win means Norrie will be the British No. 1 again when the rankings are updated, overtaking recent Wimbledon semi-finalist Arthur Fery. But it wasn’t easy for the world No. 37, who had to change his shirt eight times on a brutally humid day in Montreal.
Norrie's resilience in humidity
But Norrie is known for his gritty resilience and used the tough conditions to his advantage. “It took eight shirts. Had to change a lot,” the 30-year-old admitted.
“But, yeah, I was just trying to play every point, and I thought it was getting tough, and it was so humid. It felt like a wall. And I was really struggling with that. And if I was struggling, I know I'm a really fit guy, so I was thinking, imagine how he's feeling, and he must be suffering, too. So I wanted to keep pushing and keep pushing, and it ended up paying off in the third set.”
Turning luck around
Norrie recently went on a six-match losing streak, spanning the Madrid Open to Wimbledon. But he turned his luck around in Los Cabos last week, reaching the semi-finals. And it prepared him for a hard-fought battle at the Canadian Open.
Explaining how he managed to come back from match point down, the Brit said: “I thought a little bit, in the end of the first set, and in the second set I tried to rush the points a little bit too much. In that moment, all last week, this week, I've really been trying to reset every point, regardless of if it was the best point I played or the worst point, and regardless of what happens, just tried to get myself ready, fight every single point.
“And obviously I was down 5-2. It was looking like it was going to be done, but I just said, no, let's keep playing, keep testing the legs. Managed to do that and get back and find that right balance of not pressing too much and really finding that good balance where I could come forward when I needed to and make good decisions. And I managed to do that in the tiebreak, too, and came forward, and I played to win, and that's what counted.”
Top three match for Norrie
The epic comeback now sits in Norrie’s top three matches he’s played. “I've played a lot of big matches, but I'm really pleased with the win and how I handled it. And the roller coaster and the level in the first set was so, so high from both of us. But it's never easy playing Alex. He's a good friend. And I had to dig so, so deep to win today, so on the attitude side, yeah, top three,” he explained.
Norrie is one of six former Masters 1000 champions left in the field in Canada, but it’s been five years since his triumph in Indian Wells. But the British No. 2 “doesn’t care” about the absence of top players in the draw, and has a tough match against 18th seed Arthur Fils next. “Everyone is tough at this stage. I'm not even seeded, so I'm just playing for free,” he said.
