By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday August 19, 2022
Carlos Alcaraz had turned Friday night's final quarterfinal in Cincinnati on its ear and was a freight train, ecstatically rumbling towards a thrilling victory.
Cameron Norrie, in a daze, and suddenly down a break in the third set after watching his set and break lead vanish as Alcaraz converted electric point after electric point, stayed the course.
The British No.1 was taking on water after dropping the second-set breaker to the phenom known to many simply as "Carlitos", but he wasn’t underwater and he continued to show his fortitude even as Alcaraz, buoyed by the crowd and his own jaw-dropping level, raced ahead in the third.
Instead Norrie, ever the tennis soldier, dug in and showed why he has become one the ATP’s most tenacious competitors in the last two seasons. Rather than hang his head and succumb to the forces of the mind-blowing teen, he probed further, hoping for another chance to get back on level footing in the decider.
He would not die, as the saying goes.
And when it came time to, Norrie responded, surged to life and flipped the three-hour and three-minute roller coaster on its ear one final time.
Norrie prevailed, 7-6(4), 6-7(4), 6-4, earning his first career win in four tries over the surging Spaniard and booking a semifinal against resurgent Borna Coric on Saturday in the semifinals.
The 11th-ranked Brit said it best after the match, when reflecting on his win.
"Nice to get him once, I feel like I need to get him when he's young - he's gonna keep raising his level."
He’s probably right about that. Alcaraz is just beginning to become aware of his tennis superpowers, as he learns how to harness his majestic game.
But for now the talented southpaw, one of the most dedicated workers in the men’s game, can relish his hard-won victory. Alcaraz, 19 and coming into his own on tour in 2022, has all the tools and talents of a future champion. Norrie, 26, and firmly ensconced as a top player over the last two seasons, has less of the gleam in his game, but he proved on Friday night that he can make up for much of the talent deficit with heart, tactics and competitive drive.
“Maybe it’s my best win,” said Norrie, who has now earned four wins against top-four players in his career. “Obviously where Carlos is in his career, and what he’s doing this year – it’s just incredible. To get a win over him, it feels really good.”
Norrie hit 20 winners against 41 unforced errors, while Alcaraz hit 43 winners against 44 unforced errors.
Stats be damned, this match was won with guts.
“Credit to Carlos,” Norrie said. “I was a set and a break, 4-1 up, and I kind of lost a little bit of vision, I was thinking too much about the finish line rather than focusing on how I was winning points.
Norrie said that his win came down to his willingness to make the match a grind. And that capacity for Grinding bodes well for his chances this weekend, and again at 2022's final Grand Slam, which begins in New York on August 29.
“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 said. “I was just trying to make every rally as physical as I could, and make it tough for him to finish points – I managed to turn it around, but it was just a really good battle.
“It was exactly the match I wanted before the US Open, to test the legs and test the fitness before Flushing Meadows next week.”