Cameron Norrie seals ‘unbelievable’ win over Carlos Alcaraz to reach semi-finals in Cincinnati

Matt Verri20 August 2022

Cameron Norrie needed every bit of grit and determination to battle past Carlos Alcaraz in a sensational encounter to reach Western & Southern Open semi-finals.

Trailing 3-1 to Spanish third seed Carlos Alcaraz in the decisive third set, the British number one refused to succumb and eventually ground out a 7-6(4) 6-7(4) 6-4 victory to set up a last-four showdown with Borna Coric in Cincinnati.

It will see Norrie, currently ranked 11th, move into the top ten in the world for the first time next week.

Norrie, who at once staged was cruising through the second set having taken the first, said: “That was unbelievable. Credit to Carlos. I was up a set and a break, 4-1, and I kind of lost a little bit of vision.

“I was thinking a little bit too much about the finish line rather than focusing on how I was winning points and I honestly got a little bit tight and he raised his level, didn’t give me anything.”

Nineteen-year-old Alcaraz, who had beaten Norrie in each of their previous three meetings, two of them this year, looked on course to complete a fourth when he led 3-1 in the third set having scrapped his way back into the match.

However the 26-year-old, who had beaten Andy Muray as well as teenagers Holger Rune and Ben Shelton to make it to the quarter-finals, put his renowned strength to good use to wear down a redoubtable opponent, breaking in the ninth game to set up the win.

Norrie said: “I just wanted to hang tough with him and I think the only place I had him better was the legs and the physicality, so I was just trying to make every rally as physical as I could and make it tough for him to finish points.

“It’s tough because he can take the racquet completely out of your hand. When he’s dictating with the forehand, it’s really tough and you’re running a lot.

“I just had to try to put the ball in awkward positions in the court. I managed to serve well, I improved a lot on my previous matches.”

Additional reporting by PA Sport.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in