Former college star Cameron Norrie has played the role of professor this week at the Western & Southern Open, schooling three 19-year-olds on his way to the Cincinnati semi-finals. In Friday's quarter-finals, he gave third seed Carlos Alcaraz a lesson in staying the course as he answered the Spaniard's comeback bid with a turnaround of his own in a 7-6(4), 6-7(4), 6-4 victory.
Norrie, who also beat teens Holger Rune and Ben Shelton this week, surrendered a 4-1 lead in the second set before battling back from 1-3 down in the decider with an unflinching performance in the face of the Spaniard's charge.
"That was unbelievable," Norrie said after the three-hour thriller. "Credit to Carlos. I was up a set and a break, 4-1, and I kind of lost a little bit of vision. I was thinking a little bit too much about the finish line rather than focussing on how I was winning points and I honestly got a little bit tight and he raised his level, didn't give me anything."
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Regarded as one of the fittest players on Tour, Norrie relied on that strength to turn the third set around.
"I just wanted to hang tough with him and I think the only place I had him better was the legs and the physicality," he continued. "So I was just trying to make every rally as physical as I could and make it tough for him to finish points."
While Alcaraz was below his best for stretches of the evening, he produced one of the points of the season at 5/4 in the second-set tie-break. The electric exchange sparked the 19-year-old into life, but Norrie never folded even as the momentum swelled across the net.
While the Briton did not play the flashy brand of tennis that Alcaraz used to beat him in each of their previous three meetings, he frustrated his opponent with his steady game on centre court, patiently grinding from the baseline and capitalising on his hard-earned opportunities to step into the court.
"It's tough because he can take the racquet completely out of your hand," Norrie said, discussing the 25 winners and 30 unforced errors he hit in trying to keep Alcaraz at bay. "When he's dictating with the forehand it's really tough and you're running a lot. I just had to try to put the ball in awkward positions in the court. I managed to serve well, I improved a lot on my previous matches."
Norrie was one the ropes at the start of the third set, with Alcaraz having whipped the crowd into the frenzy in forcing a decider. After saving a break point in his opening service game, he fell behind 1-3 as Alcaraz grew in confidence. But Norrie responded instantly and did not face a break point again, earning the decisive break in the set's ninth game. He saved 11 of the 13 break points against him in the match.
The Briton has moved up two spots to No. 9 in the Pepperstone ATP live Rankings this week, and three spots to 11th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. He will face Bornia Coric in Saturday's semi-finals after the Croatian's 6-4, 6-4 win against Felix Auger-Aliassime.
With the loss, Alcaraz drops to 17-4 at the ATP Masters 1000s this season and loses the chance to claim his third title at that level on the year — a feat that would have lifted him to a new career-high of World No. 2. Instead, he remains at No. 4 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, leaving an opening for Stefanos Tsitsipas to pass him with the Cincinnati title.
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