Over the course of his glistening summer, Cameron Norrie’s steady, gradual improvements have taken him to heights most never thought possible. As he established himself as a Wimbledon semi-finalist, an undeniable top-10 player and an opponent who will grind you to dust and relish every moment of it, one of his greatest qualities has been the consistently high base level of his game He has played few poor matches and he rarely takes bad losses.
In his first appearance in the fourth round of the US Open against one of the best players in the world, though, Norrie threw in a rare poor performance and was punished for it. Norrie fell routinely, with only a brief, angry surge at the close, losing 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to Andrey Rublev.
It could not have been a tighter matchup on paper, the seventh seed versus the ninth. They had taken contrasting paths to the fourth round. While Norrie hadn’t lost a set, Rublev survived a five-set first-round tussle against Laslo Djere, then he played a brilliant match against Denis Shapovalov, edging out the Canadian in a fifth-set match tiebreak.
Such a workload could have depleted Rublev’s energy levels heading into the second week, but instead it sharpened his game after a difficult summer. He arrived inside a packed Louis Armstrong Stadium locked in.
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In the opening stages, both were solid on serve and no break points were generated in the first seven games. But at 4-4, Norrie missed a series of routine backhands, allowing Rublev the first and decisive break of the set.
As the match continued, Norrie became progressively flat. He had naturally hoped to drag Rublev into long, physical rallies and eke unforced errors from Rublev’s unrelenting aggression, yet it was Norrie who pulled out of their exchanges early with errors. By the end of the first set, he had struck 12 unforced errors, exactly double the number of Rublev. Norrie particularly struggled with his range and timing on his backhand, normally a rock solid stroke, which floated errors long throughout.
Across the net, Rublev did not let up. He was extremely sharp and focused every time Norrie threatened to pull himself back into the match and establish some momentum. In a long deuce game at 2-1 in the second set, Norrie generated his first break point of the match. Rublev responded by landing a big first serve and then crunching an inside out forehand winner.
Even as rain began to fall over Queens and the roof was erected, his momentum continued. Rublev eased through the second set and then Norrie conceded the third with two consecutive forehand errors.
Moving quickly towards the exit, Norrie finally snapped. At 3-2, 0-15 on Rublev’s serve, Norrie responded to his 33rd error of the day by tossing his racket to the ground, which cracked and earned a code violation. It was a rare burst of anger for such a composed player and it immediately provoked a response as he angrily tore through three points in a row and retrieved the break. But it did not last long. As Norrie meekly lost his serve at 4-4 in the third, Rublev held on to win.
In the end, Norrie threw in one of his worst performances of the summer when he truly could not afford to. It is also a difficult defeat in terms of his hopes for reaching the ATP Finals. While he would currently be in the top eight in the ATP race had he received points for his Wimbledon semi-final run, he is instead 11th.
Despite performing far below his high standards, one difficult day does not dim the shine around Norrie and the immense progress he has made. This was just his second career grand slam fourth round, and, while he is 27 years old, he is still inexperienced at the sharp end of major tournaments. Rublev, who is 24, will now contest his sixth career grand slam quarter-final.
That will soon change. Norrie has put himself in position to continue making the second week of majors. Such is his progress, he may still finish the week with another new achievement – depending on how Rublev and others below him fare, he could rise to a new career-high ranking of 8th.
