Cameron Norrie’s ‘brave’ new plan leads to Australian Open breakthrough

Cameron Norrie entered his third-round match against Casper Ruud at the Australian Open knowing that history was not on his side. The British No 1 had lost all of his three matches against Ruud, the 11th seed and three-time grand slam finalist, while winning just a single set of the eight they had played. In his past five attempts, the British No 1 had been unable to reach the second week of the Australian Open and only just survived in his previous match, against Giulio Zeppieri, after trailing the Italian qualifier by two sets on Thursday.

But while understanding that defeat would have continued his sliding form at the majors, following an underwhelming season last year, Norrie rose to the challenge and produced arguably his most impressive performance at a grand slamin just over three hours. Soand attacked the net relentlessly against the Norwegian to reinvigorate his career at this level.