Cameron Norrie battled past seventh seed Andrey Rublev 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 in two hours to advance to the second round at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna.
Norrie converted his third break point in the third game to take a 2-1 lead. The British player went up a double break in the fifth game to take a 4-1 lead and served out on his first set point.
Norrie broke serve at love in the first game of the second set and held serve at love to open up a 2-0 lead.
Norrie served for the match at 5-4, but Rublev broke back to 30 to force the set to the tie-break. Rublev earned an early mini-break to take a 2-0 lead. Norrie pulled back on serve to draw level to 5-5. Rublev earned a second mini-break to win the tie-break 7-5 setting up a third set.
Norrie broke serve in the second game to take a 2-0 lead in the third set. The British player earned a second break in the eighth game to seal the second set 6-2 booking his second spot in the second round, where he will face either Italy’s Matteo Berrettini or Australia’s Alexei Popyrin.
“It was all round a really good performance, I was moving well and able to dictate the points. I got a bit tight and tentative when I was serving for the match but credit to him staying in and competing”, said Norrie.
