Cameron Norrie came up agonisingly short in his bid to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open as he lost a five-set thriller against Alexander Zverev today.
The British No1 had never beaten Zverev in four previous career encounters, and had never even previously taken a set off the German.
But twice he levelled from a set deficit to force a captivating, undulating match into a deciding set, which Zverev edged for a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 win.
It was the longest match of Norrie's career at just over four hours, and the result ended British hopes in either singles draw for another year.
And while his exit will be a body blow, he can be buoyed by his best ever showing in Melbourne and having seemingly added far greater variety to his game in 2024.
As he had against Casper Ruud in the previous round, he came to the net to good effect, and also caught his opponent out repeatedly with a good use of the drop shot in what was one of his best performances.
The one disappointment was the super tiebreak to decide the match in which his best tennis evaded him, including just his second double fault of the contest. It meant he came up just short at what would have been arguably the best win of his career to date.
For Zverev, it was a fifth tiebreak played and won to date at this year's tournament and set up a quarter-final against Carlos Alcaraz.
Following his second five-set win of this year's tournament, Zverev said: "Cam has definitely been playing amazing tennis. I'm just happy to be through."
Norrie and Zverev know each other's game well, having trained repeatedly together in Monaco where they both live over the winter, and were closely matched from the outset.
The early advantage went the way of the world No6, as he broke in the Briton's final service game of the opening set. Norrie, who had the better of the support in Margaret Court Arena from a strong British contingent, had a break point to force a tiebreak but his rival just caught the line with a forehand to avoid that.
Undeterred by failing behind, Norrie was more adventurous in the second set but was again the first to be broken to fall 3-2 behind. But he broke back with a stunning crosscourt double-handed backhand, which worked so well for him throughout the marathon match.
That break swung the momentum of the match, Norrie again breaking in the next. In a topsy-turvy encounter he had to save a break point against Zverev, eventually winning the set with a monstrously lucky net cord.
The third set was briefly disrupted by a protester in the stands, who shouted out "Free Palestine" and scattered the court with leaflets reading 'War Crimes and Genocide Free Palestine'.
She was removed by two fellow spectators rather than security officials and play quickly resumed after the flyers were cleared up by the ball boys and girls.
When play resumed, it was Zverev who dominated the set as Norrie allowed his intensity to momentarily dip. It left Norrie knowing he needed to go the distance to win but he acted undeterred, safe in the knowledge he had won four of his last five-set matches.
He ensured a decider by breaking in the final game of the set. It then felt like he had a mountain to climb when he was broken in his opening service game of the deciding set but, such had been the nature of the match to date, it never quite seemed like the end. Sure enough, he broke straight back in the very next game and, when he held serve to go 2-1 up, it was the first time he had led since the early exchanges of set one. Norrie sensed an opportunity at 5-4 ahead when Zverev double faulted with his opening serve but, in truth, the German looked the stronger player on serve in that set.
And so it proved in the super tiebreaker, Norrie broken on the opening point and never able to claw his way back into the contest.
It was only in that tiebreak that Norrie finally looked beaten, a rare double fault seeing him fall back to 6-2 and Zverev comfortably taking the breaker.
