2023-04-29 19:10:47
British number one Cameron Norrie secured a straight-set victory over Japan’s Yosuke Watanuki to progress to the last 32 at the Madrid Open.
The 27-year-old rallied from a break down in the first set to win 6-4 7-6 (7-5) on clay.
Watanuki is ranked 104 places below Norrie but came close to taking the Briton to a deciding set in Spain.
Earlier on Saturday fellow Briton Dan Evans was knocked out in straight sets by Spain’s Bernabe Zapata Miralles.
The British number two lost 6-3 6-2 to the world number 42, who will face Russian qualifier Roman Safiullin in the next round.
Evans would have hoped to build on some of the momentum gathered at the Barcelona Open, where he reached the semi-final but was beaten in straight sets by top seed Carlos Alcaraz19.
Norrie won five games in a row to secure the first set once morest Watanuki before edging a second-set tie-break at the clay-court event, an important tournament in the build-up to the French Open, which starts on 28 May.
The 11th seed will look to get his preparation on track following he was knocked out at the last-16 stage in Barcelona this month and will face China’s Zhizhen Zhang in the next round.
Elsewhere, Daniil Medvedev beat Italy’s Andrea Vavassori 6-4 6-3 to progress to the round of 32, while Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic secured a dramatic win over world number nine Felix Auger-Aliassime, winning 6-2 3-6 7-6 (7-5).
Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas lost the first set but eventually overcame Dominic Thiem, who knocked out Briton Kyle Edmund to set up this match, 3-6 6-1 7-6 (7-5).
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