Cameron Norrie rued small margins as his Wimbledon preparation took a knock with defeat in the quarter-finals at Queen’s.
Norrie was beaten 6-4 7-6(1) by Sebastian Korda, with the big-serving American dominating the decisive tiebreak to book his place in the last four.
The British No 1 looked down and out after Korda broke early in the second set having eased through the first but Norrie broke back to force a tiebreak.
However, Korda quelled the raucous home crowd and Norrie’s momentum with his relentless service game and strong defence before finally breaking the Briton.
And Norrie admitted it was his inability to take advantage in the big moments that was his ultimate undoing, but backed himself to be ready for a deep run at SW19.
He said: “He served and returned really well today and made it difficult for me to find some rhythm. I think I did well to get myself in the match but pretty disappointed with the way I finished the match.
“I fought really hard to get back into the match and then played a very loose start to the tiebreak and he capitalised on that. In that first set, I had a lot of chances on his serve at the beginning of the match and I didn’t capitalise.
“I was returning great but a couple of times I missed a couple of second serve returns and missed a couple of rally balls that I wouldn’t usually do.
“I needed to tidy up the errors at the end in the second. It’s those small moments on the grass you have to ride them mentally or the chances can go quickly. He did a great job of serving his way out of trouble in those moments.”
Korda reached the Australian Open semi-finals this season and is building form ahead of Wimbledon— (Getty Images for LTA)
Norrie appeared to be slowly gearing up in west London, as he battled his way into the last eight with hard-fought victories over Miomir Kecmanovic and Jordan Thompson. Korda was ultimately too strong for the world No 13 despite the packed-out home crowd on centre court, but Norrie has no worries about this result’s impact on his chances at Wimbledon.
“I have been feeling really good the last couple of weeks and played three really good matches,” he added. “I didn’t put out my best performance today but I feel like I am definitely improving. In the big moments I haven’t been playing as well as I have earlier in the year so I am looking to get back to preparing for Wimby. I have some time to rest now, prepare as well as I can and I am looking forward to it.”
Norrie’s defeat signalled the end of British hopes in both the men’s singles and doubles, as Neal Skupski and Dutch partner Wesley Koolhof lost 6-3 7-6(4) to young stars Taylor Fritz and Jiri Lehecka, with the big-serving duo ultimately too much for the number one seeds.
But there were better fortunes in the men’s wheelchair singles, as Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewett both eased through their quarter-final matches to set up a mouth-watering meeting between the pair. The duo will unite forces in the men’s doubles on Saturday before pitting themselves against each other for the 40th time in the singles semi-final.
For the latest action on the British summer grass court season, check out the LTA website
