- The 28-year-old looked in the form of his season against Draper on No1 Court
Cameron Norrie pulled off the second all-British upset of the day, beating Jack Draper – who this month replaced him as British No1 – 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 7-6 (7-5) on Thursday evening.
On the heels of British No2 Harriet Dart’s triumph over Katie Boulter hours earlier on the same No1 Court, Norrie recorded a statement win on home soil. But unlike the women’s battle, the 28-year-old was able to see out his victory in straight sets.
The recently deposed British No1 has been on a woeful run of form, dumped out of both Queen’s Club and Eastbourne in the first round on grass and unable to string together a spate of wins since reaching the semi-final of the Rio de Janiero Open in February.
By contrast, Draper has been a star ascendant, his first grass-court title in Stuttgart coming in the same week as his coronation as Britain’s best. Coupled with a showpiece win against Carlos Alcaraz and stepping up to win a five-set first-round match in Andy Murray’s recently vacated Centre Court slot, and it was hard to keep a lid on predictions the 22-year-old was primed for a deep run in SW19.
But Norrie was a semi-finalist in SW19 just two years ago, stopped only by eventual champion Novak Djkovic, and his experience told as much as Draper’s fatigue might have. Draper had been taken to five sets by Elias Ymer in his first-round clash for just the third time in a Grand Slam.
Cameron Norrie knocked out the new British No1 Jack Draper weeks after being downgraded
The 22-year-old struggled to meet the 28-year-old’s level on a difficult afternoon on No1 Court
After tracking Norrie to 6-6 in the first set, Draper was quickly felled by the older man pulling away in the tiebreak with a series of energetic rallies. The former British No1 let out a cry of triumph after his ungettable backhand volley which Draper, on the run, could only watch bypass him as he slipped and tangled himself up the net.
But louder still was the roar, with a clenched fist, when Norrie wrapped up the set 7-6 (7-3). A reminder to his opponent, and the undecided crowd, split between home favourites, that he was still here.
Geed up by the spectators, Norrie skipped to his chair after swiping an early break from Draper in the second set. Draper, off-balance since the start of the tiebreak, was held back by unfocused hitting that Norrie, firmly in control, could feast upon.
Quickly, Norrie was four games up, and Draper left contemplating who it really was that had come into this tie as the underdog.
Draper could eventually hold onto his serve, and with some effort pulled off a life-preserving break which helped him build back his confidence, aggression returning to his game.
The fight-back was short-lived, however, with Norrie claiming the second set with a cool head, which later helped him see off a marauding threat from Draper in the fourth game of the third, the pair trading deuces until the younger player sent his backhand wide.
Norrie said that he had felt like the ‘underdog’ but proved his class in the dominant display
When Norrie claimed his advantage in that game, Draper bent at the waist and put his head in his hands. Little was going right against an opponent for whom nothing was going wrong.
Perhaps with an awareness of that, Draper opened up and began playing with nothing to lose, stopping Norrie in his tracks and romping to 5-2. But Norrie’s quality continue to shine as he chased Draper down to a second tiebreak, and proved that Draper’s position is by no means secured for long.
