Cameron Norrie’s French Open adventure finally came to an end but not without giving local hero Lucas Pouille a fright.
British number three Norrie earned a stay of execution on Wednesday evening when, despite battling stomach cramps, he pinched the third set in near darkness to ensure the second-round match would have to continue into Thursday.
French number one Pouille led 2-1 overnight and served for the fourth set at 6-5, only for Norrie to hit back and force a tie-break.
Great fight from @cam_norrie at the #FrenchOpen taking #Pouille to the brink in a 4️⃣ set thriller before falling 6-2, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 #BackTheBrits pic.twitter.com/b4IJy0qRnC
— British Tennis (@BritishTennis) May 31, 2018
But Pouille held his nerve and the 15th seed eventually prevailed 6-2 6-4 5-7 7-6 (7/3).
Nevertheless Norrie, ranked 85 in the world, was proud of his performance.
“I managed to tough out a couple of holds and managed to break him in the end,” said the 22-year-old. “And it was nice to still be in the match last night and give myself another chance.
“I fought hard and played some of my best tennis today. And I’m just proud of how I fought and how I dealt with everything.
Roland Garros debut. Have faith in the ????? pic.twitter.com/k51I847zTE
— Cameron Norrie (@cam_norrie) May 31, 2018
“I learned a lot from the match and he was a little bit more experienced than me. He’s obviously played on that court a bunch of times.
“So it was great exposure for me, and I think I’m going to use the experience to my advantage in the future.
“Just being able to play against the best guys in the world and just have that exposure, and having all the cameras there, and playing on the bigger courts and just playing on clay in general, all those things.
“Then a couple of crucial things in the match, like he obviously played a little bit more aggressively than me in the bigger moments and that managed to get him through it.
At least Norrie has made a name for himself, although not his own one in the case of one Argentinian radio presenter who while on air inadvertently called him ‘Chuck Norris’, the cult American actor.
“It was actually quite funny,” added Norrie. “When I went to Argentina for pre-season, they actually thought my name was Chuck Norris.
“So it was pretty funny. And I guess it’s an honour to be compared to him.”
