Britain’s Cameron Norrie set for rankings breakthrough after latest win in Miami

ATP Tour

Kevin Palmer
March 27, 2022

Cameron Norrie overcame a late wobble to defeat Hugo Gaston and move into the fourth round of the Miami Open – and now he is closing in on a place in the top ten of the ATP rankings for the first time.

Andy Murray, Dan Evans and Heather Watson all fell on Saturday to leave Norrie as the only British singles representative, but that is a position to which the 26-year-old is becoming accustomed.

Now Norrie is eyeing up a place in the decisive phase of another ATP 1000 event, after he beat talented Frenchman Gaston 6-3 7-5.

Norrie looked set to win more comfortably, recovering from dropping serve in the opening game of the match to move a set and 5-3 ahead.

He held five match points on his opponent’s serve and then another on his own in the following game but was unable to take any of them, with Gaston using all his trickery to claw his way back into the match.

However, Norrie broke serve again to move 6-5 in front – with Gaston smacking the net and then a ball into the crowd in frustration – and finally clinched an eighth match point.

He told Amazon Prime Video: “It was one of those days. It was tough to close it out. I was a little bit stressed out. I managed to sneak through but I felt I got a bit tentative and lost my feet and I wasn’t moving enough.

“I was really happy with how I responded after getting broken and he’s a tricky guy.

“You feel like you have to be really aggressive or he will throw in a drop shot at any point. I managed to solve the drop shots a lot and execute a couple and it showed on some big points.”

Norrie will now play No 6 seed Casper Ruud in the next round and he is on course to break into the world’s elite ten players for the first time next Monday, when the ATP rankings are updated after the Miami Open concludes.

Cameron Norrie