Tennis
Cameron Norrie up the creek but still has padel after early US Open exit
Cameron Norrie will have to console himself with a win at a padel tournament after his miserable summer at the grand slams ended in another first-round defeat.
Norrie, who did not make it past the opening round at the French Open or Wimbledon, was dumped out of the US Open by unheralded Frenchman Luca Van Assche.
It was a sorry Sunday for the 31-year-old, who woke up to find he had been overtaken as British number one by Arthur Fery following his run to the Winston-Salem final.
Norrie revealed beforehand that he won a padel competition among his friends while on his stag do in Ibiza last month.
It turns out that was the only victory he could savour after slipping to a 6-7 (6) 6-2 6-2 6-3 defeat.
Norrie pointedly shouted ‘allez’ on his way to securing a grind of a first set on a tie-break.
Whether that wound up Van Assche is unclear but the 22-year-old made no such mistake in the second to haul himself level.
Norrie, the 29th seed, then found himself in a New York nightmare as the match quickly got away from him.
“It was really tough,” he said. “I was pretty nervous and it showed in the beginning of the first set, and I did well to steal that first set.
“But I could never really maintain a good level of energy and momentum, and I’d play well for a little bit and then drop off a couple of games here and there.
“So that was super frustrating and pretty surprising. I felt like I lost to myself today.”
There was better news for Britain in the women’s draw as Katie Boulter came through a tough match against American wild card Carol Young Suh Lee.
British number one Boulter, 30, looked to be cruising through at a set and a break ahead, only for some costly double-faults to let Lee back in.
However, Boulter, cheered on by new husband Alex De Minaur, gathered herself on a noisy, partisan Court Five to win 6-4 3-6 6-0.
“You know, I expected a battle in the first round,” said Boulter. “I don’t think that there’s any match out here that’s straightforward, really.
“I think I did well to get over the line in the first set, and then I think I changed a couple of things that actually made a huge difference in the third. So I was really pleased with that in the third set.”
A tricky assignment could await in round two with a potential tie against this year’s Wimbledon runner-up Karolina Muchova.
British number four Jacob Fearnley was a break down in the first set against Spain’s Martin Landaluce when play was suspended for rain.
