Norrie Knocks Off Alcaraz At Cincinnati Masters, Medvedev Foils Fritz

Cameron Norrie doesn’t have the power that Carlos Alcaraz but he has the experience and the defense. Last night in the Cincinnati Masters quarterfinals, the Brit showcased those attributes and more in a thrilling win over Carlos Alcaraz 7-6(4), 6-7(4), 6-4.

Alcaraz, who was so hot a few months, hasn’t quite found the mark and that cost him yet again. Norrie, with his speed, kept getting ball after ball back and late in the match refused to miss service returns.

Eventually, the pressure got to Alcaraz and it’s Cameron Norrie moving on in three hours with an ace on match point.

“That was unbelievable,” Norrie said. “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 focusing on how I was winning points and I honestly got a little bit tight and he raised his level, didn’t give me anything.

“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 added. “So I was just trying to make every rally as physical as I could and make it tough for him to finish points.”

Alcaraz heads to New York having no titles in his last six events. Norrie will now battle the resurgent Borna Coric. The Croat who stunned Rafael Nadal kept rolling dismissing Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 6-4 to reach his third Masters semifinal, first since his 2018 Shanghai final.

“Honestly I’m not sure, because last week I was playing really bad,” said Coric of his run this week. “I was training really hard from last week. I lost on Monday and I decided to train a lot. I was spending many hours on the court, so I think that was the key, to be honest. I was playing many sets and I was trying to find my game.”

Earlier in the day, Daniil Medvedev fought off a set point in the first to defeat Taylor Fritz 7-6(1), 6-3.

“Cincinnati fast courts and fast balls and I have always liked it. But always tricky matches, especially between two great servers,” Medvedev told the crowd.

“The first set he was on top of me a little bit. He had many more chances than I did on my serve, but I managed to stay in. There were some set points where I could have missed and no one would have talked about it, it would have been normal. But I managed to stay in the set and that helped me win the match.”

Medvedev will now take on rival Stefanos Tsitsipas who he leads 7-2.

Amid some light rain drops, Tsitsipas overcame a second set wobble to edge John Isner 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-3.

“I knew coming into the match that it is never easy playing against him,” Tsitsipas said on court. “You have to deal with lots of different variations of play and I think the most important thing is to stay patient because there will be a lot of situations that you can’t really control. That is what I was trying to do today.”

SATURDAY CINCINNATI SCHEDULE
Center Court Starts At 11:00 Am
Madison Keys v Petra Kvitova
Not Before 1:00 PM
(Q) Caroline Garcia v 6 Aryna Sabalenka
Not Before 3:00 Pm
1 Daniil Medvedev v 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas
Not Before 6:00 Pm
9 Cameron Norrie v (PR) Borna Coric

You Might Like:
Djokovic Knocks Out Fritz In Cincinnati Masters QFs, Zverev Ahead; Alcaraz To Face Hurkacz
Fritz Overcomes Rublev, Sets Date With Medvedev At Cincinnati Masters
US Open Stars Alcaraz, Ruud Headline ATP Acapulco
Kyrgios, Medvedev, Alcaraz Cincinnati Masters Winners; Nadal Tonight
Alcaraz Sets Norrie Final In Buenos Aires