Cameron Norrie labelled his passage into the quarter-finals at Queen’s an Ashes redemption after fighting back to beat Australia’s Jordan Thompson.
After a tough sporting 24 hours against Australia in which Ben Stokes’ side lost a five-day thriller, Andy Murray was beaten by another Aussie in Alex de Minaur.
But Norrie, following a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win, said: “I was watching the last four or five days and it was looking unlikely but I thought that they played great, the England team with Brendan McCullum as well.
“I thought they were aggressive. I didn’t see the end of it. I saw Australia won but, yeah, nice to get a bit of redemption there, especially with Andy’s match yesterday.”
Norrie faces a tough last-eight encounter against Seb Korda, one of the rising stars of the men’s game, as he bids to reach a second Queen’s final following his effort in 2021.
He lost that final to Matteo Berrettini but said he had his sights set on a sixth ATP Tour title.
Of the prospect of winning the title, he said: “I think it would be better than quite nice. I think it would be unreal to do that, and especially here at Queen’s.
“I came so close [in 2021}. I think I still had never won a title yet when I was in the final with Berrettini. I really thought that was going to be the one.
“It was a tough one. Yeah, a big goal of mine to get a title on the grass. Long way away but still in it and still need to keep improving everything in my game. There are some things I need to tidy up in my game for sure.”
