Britain’s hopes of having another player in the Top 100 of the ATP rankings are growing stronger. Cameron Norrie has had a stunning run on the Challenger circuit in 2017. The Briton earned his first Challenger title in Binghampton. He then went on a tear by reaching the final in Cary, and then winning the title in Tiburon in back-to-back events.
His results this year, which also include a second round run at the US Open, are all the more impressive given that Norrie only officially turned professional this year. Norrie’s ranking going into this week is No.136.
Norrie revisited his Tiburon success in the Stockton quarter-finals, as he played the same player he faced in that final, Tennys Sandgren. The result was much the same, as though Sandgren fought to make the second set a little more competitive, Norrie still emerged a straight sets winner 6-3, 7-6.
Norrie had eased past wildcard Deiton Baughman in the first round before surviving a tough examination of his skills from fellow Brit Brydan Klein in the second round. He will face American third seed Michel Mmoh in the semi-finals.
Mmoh earned a retirement win from veteran Russia Dmitry Tursunov. Mmoh was leading 6-3 when the former Top 30 player called an end to the match.
In the top half of the draw two players who have their sights set on returning to the Top 200 advanced to the semi-finals. Both Tim Smyczek and Darian King recently saw their rankings slip but have put up strong showings this week.
Smyczek benefited from Elias Ymer’s win over top seed Ruben Bemelmans in the first round to knock out the young Swede in the quarter-finals 6-4, 6-4. Smyczek had defeated Fredrik Nielsen and Christian Harrison to rebound from a opening round loss in Tiburon.
Darian King won the Tiburon title last year, but put up a poor defence of his title, losing in the first round to Mackenzie McDonald. That loss put King back 49 places in the ATP rankings but is still seeded in Stockton as the seedings are determined a few weeks in advance. His chances of making the semi-finals looked bleak at times against Noah Rubin, but King finished strongly, losing just three games in the last two sets to advance 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.
