‘Real fortunate to get through,’ says Cameron Norrie after beating Frances Tiafoe at Delray Beach Open

ATP Tour

Shahida Jacobs
January 12, 2021

British No 2 Cameron Norrie is one win away from a second ATP Tour final after edging past eighth seed Frances Tiafoe in the quarter-final of the Delray Beach Open.

A day after upsetting third seed Adrian Mannarino in straight sets, Norrie accounted for the exit of a second seeded player as he beat the American 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 in two hours and 14 minutes.

On his fourth match point, @cam_norrie wraps up a rollercoaster 6-0 3-6 6-4 win over crowd-favourite Frances Tiafoe!

Here’s your #DBOpen semi-final line-up – who makes the final?

🇺🇸 [Q] Harrison v [4] Hurkacz 🇵🇱
🇬🇧 Norrie v Korda 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/aFgrulqCcg

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) January 12, 2021

After bagelling Tiafoe in 27 minutes in the opening set, Norrie found himself 3-0 down in the second after losing his serve in game two. He managed to get back on level terms after breaking in game five only for the eighth seed to get the crucial break in game eight.

The Brit was comfortable at 0-40 up in the 10th game, which turned out to be the final one, but Tiafoe saved three match points before Norrie sealed the deal.

“Credit to Frances. He fought real hard and I managed to get a little bit lucky in the third set there with a couple netcords and a couple close calls,” Norrie, who finished runner-up at the Auckland Open in 2019, said on court.

“I started the match great and then he came back firing straight away in the second set and then I just managed to hold onto my serve and tough out those games. Then he played a little bit tentative towards the end. Real fortunate to get through.”

Next up is Sebastian Korda after the 20-year-old beat American No 1 John Isner 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in their quarter-final.

World No 789 Christian Harrison from the United States and Hubert Hurkacz from Poland will contest the other semi-final after the former beat Gianluca Mager 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 to reach his first career semi-final while fourth-seeded Hurkacz defeated Roberto Quiroz from Ecuador 6-3, 6-4.

“It feels pretty amazing,” Harrison said. “I’m just happy that I have everyone here, all my friends and family around that are here to support, especially here in Delray being so close to home.”

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Cameron Norrie