Cameron Norrie on Saturday put in a top-notch performance to defeat Rafael Nadal in the United Cup, in Sydney. However spoiling the debut of the number two ATP ranking in the new season.
It is the biggest win of the Briton’s career, who had never won a set against the Spaniard in four past matches.
In fact, following Nadal’s dominating opening match, history almost appeared to be repeating itself.
The point is that Norrie put his head down, continued to fight and ended up winning with partials 3-6, 6-3 and 6-4, after almost three hours.
Norrie still saved three break points in the final stretch of the meeting, while it proved to be very strong to seal the victory with a blank service game.
“I think it was, especially on ranking and beating a guy like Rafa as the competitor that he is. I know it’s his first match of the year, but it was a sick win.” Norrie said.
“He absolutely chopped me the last five or four times I played him, so it is nice to get him once now. I really played well and held my nerve throughout the match.” Norrie added.
It is also a significant outcome for Great Britain, who moved ahead of Spain right away knowing that two more wins would seal the group’s win and their qualification for the City Finals.
Nadal, meanwhile, the Spaniard left with his head down, this in a duel in which he left different feelings.
There were moments, especially in the first set, when he didn’t give a chance and made the right work with a lot of speed, but from the second set onwards he accumulated too many unforced mistakes.
“I can do things better of course, and I need to do it, but as I said, I had not many matches before. It’s all the credit to him that he did a lot of things very well. I think there is a way to improve, but I have time before the Australian Open starts in two weeks.” Nadal said.
