By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday October 1, 2021
Great Britain's Cameron Norrie's career year continues unabated in San Diego, where the World No.28 eased past Denis Shapovalov in straight sets.
Photo Source: Getty
Cameron Norrie has hit his stride in 2021, and the British southpaw, now ranked 28 but destined to go higher - and soon - continued to impress on Friday at the San Diego Open, where he took out Canada’s Denis Shapovalov in straight sets for the second time in four months.
Norrie, who stretches his record to 40-19 on the season, needed just 67 minutes to take out Shapovalov, 6-3, 6-1, setting up a showdown with top-seeded Andrey Rublev, who stopped Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 6-1, 7-5 in Friday’s second quarterfinal.
Norrie was asked how he’s been able to create so much success in 2021 after his win on Friday.
"I haven't changed anything I think I've just been working every day," he said. "I think just playing with these guys and building the level, week-in, week-out - I think it just comes with the experience and playing better in bigger matches. I've just built a little bit more experience, I've only been on tour, I think it's my fourth year now, still learning and getting better and improving, which is nice."
Norrie had played just six semifinals in his entire career prior to 2021. On Friday he increased his total of semifinals to six in 2021 alone. It’s enough to put him at No.15 in the Race to Turin. He knows he is a longshot to make the ATP’s prestigious year-end championships, but it’s a thrill for him just to be in the mix.
"Still lot of points to get into the top eight, probably I'll have to win a couple of bigger tournaments, but it's nice to be there so late in the year and be one of the guys in the equation for that event,” he said.
Consistency and learning are the keys
Norrie says that playing big matches on big stages and learning to perform with that type of pressure has really opened him up to reaching a new level.
"When you are doing it more often and playing against better players you are going to become more used to the pressures,” he said. “There's always going to be a bigger match against a bigger player in the future, so I just try to learn from all the experiences and just try and put my best level every day on the practice court and the matches."
The Brit has also held up his end of the bargain at the Slams in 2021. He reached the third round of all three majors. He ran into Rafael Nadal in Australia and again Roland Garros, then at Wimbledon he drew Roger Federer. A short-term death sentence, no doubt, but also a huge experience to learn and grow.
"I think this year is a great example,” Norrie says. “I played Rafa third round of Australia and third round of French Open. Those are the matches you want to be playing, that's why I started playing tennis. It's obviously very difficult at the time, I was just trying to take it all in, and I came close in a couple of sets, he played great.
"Then all of the sudden to play Roger at Wimbledon, in the third round again, I had a couple of chances early on in the fourth sets, to go five sets, it's exactly what I wanted, to be playing those matches on the big stages, and on the big courts, when there's high pressure you are going to learn a lot, especially from those guys, they've been in those situations so many times, so that's exactly what I want. I was obviously not happy to not come away with the win against those guys, but to put my level out there and to be in the situation and to play well in the situation, so I was happy with that."
Rublev Looks Strong in San Diego
Andrey Rublev was tested in the second set against the always hard-charging Diego Schwartzman, but the Russian kept his feet on the ground and managed to hit his way past the talented Argentine to notch a straight sets win. It was another example of how much Rublev has progressed in 2021. Even when he is pushed to the brink he calmly finds a way to resist and usually reaches a high enough level to win.
It would have been easy for him to get frustrated against Schwartzman on Friday, but he held his ground and executed at a very high level to take the win.
Rublev, now 46-15 with a title on the season, raced past Norrie last year on indoor hard court in St. Petersburg, 6-2, 6-1, but based on the level of the Brit’s confidence, their second meeting, in Saturday’s semifinals at San Diego, promises to be a better battle.