British No.3 Cameron Norrie has caused a major upset on the first day of the US Open after coming back from two sets down to stun a weary Diego Schwartzman in his opening match.
Ranked 63 places below the Argentine world No.13, Norrie battled his way to a 3-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 7-5, win after almost four hours of roller-coaster tennis. Becoming the first player to defeat Schwartzman in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament since Grigor Dimitrov at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships. It was a far from smooth encounter in New York with both players hitting more unforced errors than winners. Although it was ninth-seeded Schwartzman had the worst ratio of 31 winners to 81 unforced errors.
“I’m pretty tired. For me, the tennis and the level wasn’t that great but I had a really good attitude throughout and I was happy with that,” Norrie said during an interview with Amazon Prime.
“I’m just lucky to get through that one and save a couple of match points at the end. It was a tough one.”
To add to the drama in the fifth set, which Norrie trailed 3-5 at one stage, Schwartzman suffered a fall and underwent a medical time out before returning to action. Then towards the closing stages of the match he started to suffer with cramp in what can be attributed to a lack of match play in recent months due to the five-month break. Unlike Norrie who played in a series of exhibition events during that time.
“I knew that he was struggling and cramping a little bit. It’s almost like you want to find a good balance because if you’re too tentative he can just hit away and hit winners,” Norrie commented on how he closed out the match.
“I just managed to keep the ball deep and come up with some good angles at the end.’
“I wasn’t trying to think about it too much. It was tricky and I am just happy to sneak through that game.”
The encounter has also rewritten a unique record in US Open history for the most break point opportunities in a single match. Overall, there was 58 in total with Norrie converting 35% (11/31) of his opportunities and his opponent managed 30% (8/27). The previous record was 55.
“I’m not sure if that is a good stat to have honestly,” said the world No.76. “In the first couple sets I missed so many second serve returns on the outside when I had break points and I was just getting a little bit frustrated. I stayed patient with myself and managed to convert way more at the end. But 58 is a lot. “
It is the third time in four years the Brit has progressed to the second round in New York. He will next play Federico Coria, who is through to the last 64 of a major for the first time in his career at the age of 28.
