Indian Wells: Britain’s Cameron Norrie beats Andrey Rublev to reach quarter-finals
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British number one Cameron Norrie reached Indian Wells quarter-finals with a straight-sets win over Russian Andrey Rublev.
Norrie had issues with his serve early on but found his game, converting all five break points to claim a 6-2, 6-4 victory in California.
He will face either Frances Tiafoe or Alejandro Tabilo in the last eight.
Norrie, 27, took the Indian Wells title in 2021 – the first British man to win the tournament.
The last time the pair faced one another was in the last 16 of the 2022 US Open where it was Rublev who won in straight sets.
On Tuesday, 10th seed Norrie started brightly, breaking his opponent in the first game. But serve issues led to a double fault which gave Rublev a break point to level at 1-1.
The 25-year-old Russian was shouting and hitting himself with his racket through frustration every time he made an error early on, and Norrie took advantage, breaking straight back to lead 2-1.
The Brit broke Rublev’s serve for a third time, taking the first set 6-2.
Norrie’s dominance continued as he broke Rublev in the third game of the second set, to lead 2-1, and then again soon after to make it 5-2.
World number seven Rublev saved a match point in the next game, fighting back to break Norrie, but the result was inevitable as the world number 12 held his nerve to take the second set 6-4.
It secured an eighth-straight victory for Norrie, who won the Rio Open two weeks ago, as well as spot in the quarter-finals for the third consecutive time at Indian Wells.
Elsewhere, Daniil Medvedev overcame German Alexander Zverev in an epic three-set match, with the Russian winning 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals.
Medvedev will face Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the last eight.
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