With his back against the wall Wednesday, Cameron Norrie found a way to reach the quarter-finals at the Stockholm Open.
The second seed trailed Aslan Karatsev 2-4 in the third set but rallied to advance 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-4 at the ATP 250 event. Norrie will next play #NextGenATP Dane Holger Rune after the 19-year-old defeated Cristian Garin 7-6(2), 6-1. The 27-year-old Norrie is aiming to win his third tour-level title of the season in Sweden after triumphing in Delray Beach and Lyon.
“It was a tough match,” Norrie said. “Every time Aslan was down he raised his level and he really stole that first set from me. I had a couple of set points and I didn’t execute as well as I could have done in the tie-break. I stayed solid and I was a bit frustrated in the third set but I managed to claw it back. I feel good and fresh.”
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In a dramatic match, Norrie recovered from squandering a set point in the first set as he played consistently and patiently from the baseline in the second and third sets to turn the clash around and advance after three hours and two minutes.
The Briton, who is 47-23 on the season, is currently 12th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin on 2400 points. He will need a strong end to the season if he is to close the gap on seventh-placed Felix Auger-Aliassime (3065 points) and qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held from 13-20 November.
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Austrian Dominic Thiem continued his strong form when he moved past Belgian Michael Geerts 6-4, 6-0 to reach the second round in Antwerp.
In a dominant display, the 29-year-old fired 18 winners and won 86 per cent (30/35) of his first-serve points to advance after 71 minutes. Thiem, who is making his debut in Antwerp, reached the semi-finals in Gijon last week.
The former World No. 3 will next play sixth seed Francisco Cerundolo.
Denis Shapovalov also advanced, moving past Swiss qualifier Antoine Bellier 6-4, 7-5 in 83 minutes. The Canadian, who reached the semi-finals in Tokyo earlier this month, will next meet Alex de Minaur or J.J. Wolf.