Cameron Norrie won the Masters 1000 tournament for the first time after claiming the biggest title of his career to date at the 2021 BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells.
The world number 26 became the first male player outside the top 25 to win the BNP Paribas Open since Ivan Ljubicic in 2010. To do so, he defeated 29th seed Nikoloz Basilashvili 3-6, 6-4, 6 -1 in his sixth final of the season.
The BNP Paribas Open title is the British tennis player’s second title this season after he won the Los Cabos Open (beating Brandon Nakashima).
“This means a lot to me, my biggest title. I’m so happy. I don’t even describe it at the moment,” Cameron Norrie exclaimed.
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“This game is quite strange, because of course it is very big for me and my team. I can’t really believe it. If you told me that I would win before the tournament started, I wouldn’t believe you. So, this is really awesome.”
In the second Masters 1000 final of the season between two players outside the top 25, after Hubert Hurkacz beat Jannik Sinner, the 26-year-old became the first British man to win the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Prior to this season, he had not even won a game on his two visits to Indian Wells.
But after victories over Tennys Sandgren, Roberto Bautista Agut, Tommy Paul, Diego Schwartzman, Grigor Dimitrov and Basilashvili, he left Indian Wells with the highest ranking of his career to date, world number 16 and he is also Britain’s number one.
“I feel a little uncomfortable. The conditions were quite windy and he also made a lot of winners. It’s quite difficult for me to find confidence in the rallies, because they are really short. He just missed a winner, so when I fired some powerful shots at 5-4 in the second set it gave me a lot of confidence.”
“I was able to find my rhythm and started moving well again. I rallied physically like I did throughout the tournament this time and it worked out well for me.”
For the first time in the BNP Paribas Open, a British tennis player has conceded a set. But this did not make him give up, including when he grabbed eight points in a row to equalize in the same set.
Norrie also maintained momentum in the decisive set by getting a break opportunity at the beginning of the set. Basilashvili created three break point opportunities at 0-2 but was saved by the Briton. After that, he did not experience significant problems, while the errors from the Georgian racket even more flowed before finally the British tennis player won after 1 hour 51 minutes.
“I really enjoy my game and enjoy being on the pitch and competing in the important moments. This season I’ve lost a lot of finals, so it’s really nice to be able to pick this big win,” said Norrie.
