Having advanced to the second week of a grand slam for the first time at Wimbledon, Cameron Norrie was not about to let unfounded accusations of gamesmanship prevent him from repeating the feat at the US Open.
Norrie has been one of the tour’s most consistent performers for the better part of two seasons now, with his inability to translate that form into deep runs at the majors the lone point of frustration.
The 27-year-old addressed that shortcoming at the All England Club, where he advanced to the semi-finals, and he has since enjoyed a quietly impressive summer on the hard courts of North America, reaching the final in Los Cabos and the last four in Cincinnati. His upward trajectory has continued in New York, where he has yet to drop a set after calmly dispatching Rune, a 19-year-old Dane ranked 33 in the world, 7-5, 6-4, 6-1.
“To make the second week for the first time [at Wimbledon], that was huge for me,” said Norrie, the British world No 9. “It was a big goal of mine to play well at slams and play deep in slams.
“I don’t think I played great [in the] first couple of rounds. I was able to feel a lot more relaxed today, and use that momentum from those matches to get through those tough ones, where I didn’t really play great, to playing a lot better today.”
Norrie’s mellow approach to the game is not one shared by Rune, who has quickly acquired a reputation as something of a firebrand since he first impacted on the public consciousness in New York last year by taking a set off Novak Djokovic in the opening round. The 19-year-old was involved in an unseemly spat with Casper Ruud at the French Open, and here he once again took aim at one of the tour’s more mild-mannered competitors, complaining that Norrie was deliberately catching his ball toss in order to buy time.
“So you don’t think he does it on purpose?” Rune demanded of Timo Janzen, the chair umpire, after Norrie battled through a nine-minute service game to seal a two-set lead. Norrie was within the 25-second time limit, however, and Rune enjoyed no more success with his remonstrations than he did with his efforts to hit through an opponent whose game is founded on patience and stamina.
“Holger’s not easy, he can go through patches where he’s playing pretty passively and then he goes through and hits very aggressively, so you have to be ready for anything,” Norrie told Amazon Prime analyst Greg Rusedski at courtside. “For me, I think I stayed a lot calmer than he did throughout the big moments in the match.
“My goal today was to get to two hours and then we start the match from there. Literally, I when it hit two hours, I broke to go 2-1 in the third and I pointed to Facu [Lagones, his coach], and I was like, ‘Yeah, all right, now the match starts.’ Then he seemed to die a lot, I don’t know what was going on with him.”
Norrie will face Andrey Rublev for a place in the quarter-finals after the Russian ninth seed came through a dramatic five-setter against Denis Shapovalov. Rublev, who let slip three match points at 5-4 in the decider, eventually prevailed 6-4, 2-6, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 7-6 (10-7) in four hours and 10 minutes.
Dan Evans was unable to join Norrie in the last 16 after losing a desperately close tussle with former champion Marin Cilic. Evans held three set points in the opener and fended off a match point with a brilliant running backhand at 5-4 in the fourth, but his hopes of forcing a decider were dashed as a poor final service game consigned him to a 7-6 (13-11), 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 7-5 defeat.
In the night session, Rafael Nadal found his best form so far to defeat Richard Gasquet 6-0, 6-1, 7-5. It was an 18th straight win against the Frenchman for Nadal, who had dropped the opening set in the each of the previous two rounds. He will face Frances Tiafoe in round four after the American, seeded 22nd, came through 7-6 (9-7), 6-4, 6-4 against Diego Schwartzman.
“He’s a player who plays with a lot of passion, a lot of energy,” said Nadal of Tiafoe. “He’s very quick. He can play very aggressive. I mean, he’s a player that I am not going to win [against] if I am not playing well. I hope to make that happen.”
Carlos Alcaraz, the third seed, remained on course for a projected semi-final showdown against Nadal with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 win over Jenson Brooksby of the US.