Cameron Norrie showcased his powerful hitting as he reached the second round of Wimbledon by beating Tomas Machac.
It was a comfortable first set for the British No1 who reached the semi-finals at SW19 last year. Here he edged out the Czech qualifier to win 6-3 under the roof on Court 1 and get his campaign up and running.
Machac, playing Wimbledon for the first time, raised his level in the second set, and the rewards were tangible. He broke Norrie’s serve decisively for 4-3 — eventually winning it 6-4 and levelling the encounter.
Norrie, the 12th seed and world No13, needed to regroup at that point and duly did. Firing into corners with that blunt, flat forehand stroke that has come to define his game, he won 6-1 in a third set that was one-way traffic right from the off.
Machac was struggling to stay balanced on his feet, slipping every three or four games, but he stayed on serve with Norrie until 4-4.
At this point, Norrie sensed his moment and went for the jugular, breaking Machac’s serve and holding well to see out the match 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Johannesburg-born Norrie will face either American Christopher Eubanks or Thiago Monteiro of Brazil in the second round.
“Coming onto the court today honestly brought a smile to my face”, Norrie said in an on-court interview after the end of the match.
“I played at a really good level. He played really aggressively and made it difficult for me, but I came through it. The atmosphere was great.”
Play was stopped on all outside courts after around an hour of play on Day 2, meaning the Championships already have a backlog of fixtures to squeeze in after just two days of ‘action’.
Norrie said: “For the last few years that was me waiting on the rain, so it’s nice to have had a run last year and earned the right to play here today. Nice to get it done and start my campaign here.”
