Cameron Norrie reached the third round of a third consecutive grand slam tournament with a gritty victory against Lloyd Harris.
It continued what has been a superbly consistent run of form since the tour resumed last summer and the reward for the British No 2’s 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 victory could well be another meeting with Rafael Nadal.
Norrie gave a good account of himself against the 20-time grand slam champion in the third round of the Australian Open in February before losing against the clay master in Barcelona. First Nadal must get past Richard Gasquet in the night match while Norrie, who also reached the last 32 at the US Open last summer, can put his feet up and reflect on another job well done.
He paid for a slow start as the South African Harris took his only break point of the match in the third game and used his big serve and forehand to keep Norrie at arm’s length. Harris is another man who has had a very strong 2021 and he beat the 26th seed Lorenzo Sonego in round one, but ultimately he could not match Norrie’s relentless play.
Sign up to The Recap, our weekly email of editors’ picks.
A double fault gave Norrie the breakthrough early in the second set and from there he made sure he gave nothing away all the way to the finish line. Whatever happens on Saturday, Norrie may already have done enough to break into the top 40 for the first time, which would be entirely merited.
In a match of momentum swings and missed opportunities, Roger Federer put another 2:35 of much needed matchplay in the bank as he reached the third round with a hard earned 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 win over Marin Cilic.
Although a pair of familiar faces who have competed against each other for 13 years now, this was not the match-up of three years ago when Federer eked out his 20th grand slam win in five nervous sets against Cilic.
In recent years, Cilic’s level has diminished greatly. He is now ranked 47th and he has reached just two tour quarterfinals over the past 52 weeks, compiling a 16-17 win-loss record during this period. In his last tournament, Cilic was soundly beaten by another Swiss player, this one a 419-ranked 18 year-old called Dominic Stephan Stricker.
Federer is, of course, in an unusual period of his own. After so few matches over the past 16 months, he is with minimal expectations at a tournament he does not expect to seriously compete for: “In a way I like this situation,” he said after his first round. “That I don’t know what’s next, how my next match will be. I don’t even know who I play, to be honest. I take it round by round, match by match. I think it’s going to help me, with the way I go about it.”
The early stages of the encounter showcased Federer’s most fluid 25 minutes of tennis since his return. He was in control, stroking winners from both wings and all parts of the court as Cilic suffocated under the pressure of his early, clean-ball striking. He finished the first set with just six unforced errors.
However, Federer’s level dropped immediately in the second set. He began to mistime backhands and he lost his read on Cilic’s serve, allowing the Croatian to burst through. There was little subtlety to Cilic’s gameplan – he relentlessly attacked Federer’s backhand at every opportunity and for a period he successfully broke it down. Cilic’s serve also guided him out of numerous tough periods in the second set as the momentum swung sharply in his direction.
What Federer may not have missed is how much time and energy is wasted on petty arguments over rules in this sport. Cilic appeared to complain about Federer taking too long with the towel when he was prepared to serve. Shortly after, Federer received a time violation warning and he spent long minutes arguing with the umpire, Emmanuel Joseph, and then he even tried to engage Cilic himself. To his credit, Cilic did not let the moment distract him and he eventually took the second set with a second break.
While Federer lost some composure when addressing the umpire, he was admirably tolerant of his own mistakes. He led by a break, with a point to move up a double break, only for Cilic to pull him back from *1-3, 30-40 to 4-3. The third set ended with the pair combining for six love service games in a row – 24 straight points to the server – as it ended up in a third set tiebreak. In total, only one of the final 35 points of the set went against the server: Cilic’s double fault in the tiebreak. History repeated itself in the fourth set as Cilic double faulted on an important point once again, this time on break point, to hand over his service game and eventually the match.
Federer will face the talented left Dominik Koepfer in the third round, another step up in quality and another step into the unknown as he looks to see how his game reacts to what the ATP tour in 2021 can throw at him.
Novak Djokovic also reached the third round with an easy 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 win over Pablo Cuevas. A measure of Djokovic’s level is that Cuevas played a quality match himself, finishing with 31 winners to 26 unforced errors and being a significant part of numerous intense, creative and prolonged exchanges that seemed to cover every grain of clay. And yet, in the end he had only nine games to show for his efforts across three sets. Djokovic will face the diminutive Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis next.
Meanwhile, Andy Murray will not be competing at the Nottingham Challenger next week. He has been practicing at Wimbledon and he is aiming for a singles return at Queen’s. Naomi Osaka has also withdrawn from the Berlin WTA event due to begin 14 June. She is still yet to decide whether she will return to Europe for the grass season.
