Cameron Norrie reaches BNP Paribas Open quarter finals as Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu both exit
It took the 27-year-old just 75 minutes to defeat sixth-placed Russia’s Andrey Rublev 6-2, 6-4 to claim an eighth straight win in one of his best performances of the season so far.
Norrie, who won the 2021 tournament and defeated world number two Carlos Alcaraz last month to secure Rio Open glory, meets either American Frances Tiafoe or Chilean Alejandro Tabilo in the last eight.
In a match that started with three straight breaks of serve, the Brit seized the initiative to take a 3-1 lead, breaking a third time to give himself a chance to finish the opener.
In fact, the world No. 12 converted all five of his break points as he completed a win that leveled his ATP Head2Head streak 2-2 against 25-year-old Rublev.
After the game, Norrie said: “Off the ground I was rock solid.
“It was a bit cooler today so I felt like I had more time on the ball. I played well in the big moments.
“Andrey isn’t easy to beat, so I was delighted to come through in straight sets.”
Draper bows
Jack Draper was forced to retire in the second set of his fourth-round clash with Carlos Alcaraz.
The 21-year-old Briton was eventually overwhelmed by an abdominal injury sustained in his previous game against Andy Murray.
The result means Alcaraz are within three wins of reclaiming the world rankings.
“I did more damage so there was no point in making it any worse,” the 21-year-old told BBC Sport. “At the end of my match against Andy [Murray, on Monday]I had a bit of hip pain, of course, but towards the end my stomach started to hurt more and more.
“I woke up [on Tuesday] and my stomach hurt and as I started hitting 100 percent in the game it gradually got worse. I couldn’t play properly. I’m just beginning to work really hard on my fitness training.
“I’ve done a lot on the pitch over the years but I’ve never really worked on my body.
“I am still at the beginning of my development. I’m starting to play five-set grand slams. The physical nature of this sport is very demanding so you have to have a really resilient body to be able to cope with the demands of the Tour.”
Raducanu suffers a heavy defeat
World number one Iga Swiatek swept past Emma Raducanu in straight sets to end the Brit’s brave run at the BNP Paribas Open in the fourth round.
Raducanu, who has been battling a wrist injury and illness in recent weeks, showed glimpses of her best form in her earlier matches, which she won at the US Open with wins over 20th seed Magda Linette and 13th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia.
The 20-year-old looked impressive again in the early stages against Swiatek, making a pass from the baseline to the Pole as neither player seemed close to giving up a break.
The turning point, however, came in the sixth game of the opening set.
At 3-2, Raducanu had a double fault at 0-30, giving defending champion Swiatek the space she needed to claim the crucial break.
The world No. 77 was easily surpassed from there, eventually going down 6-3, 6-1 in an hour and 24 minutes.
“I think overall I can say it’s been a positive week for me,” said Raducanu. “The team, I think we had three really good games.
“It was a good experience to play against Iga on this pitch tonight. I think the conditions are very slow and difficult and favored them. But yeah, it’s just good to see where I stand.
“I think it was a good 10 days. I didn’t train very much before the tournament, but I feel like tomorrow I’ll probably need a day to recover physically because I’ve been doing a little something every day since the tournament started.
“So (I’m going to) reset a little bit mentally and physically tomorrow and then go from there.”