Norrie on his longest run in a Masters 1000 tournament
British rider Cameron Norrie celebrated “the biggest win of my career” after beating Argentinian Diego Schwartzman in straight sets to reach the Indian Wells Masters semifinals.
World number 26 Norrie will replace Dan Evans as Britain’s number one after his 6-0 6-2 win in California.
The 26-year-old left-hander had never reached the last eight of a Masters 1000 tournament before.
Norrie meets Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in the round of 16.
The number 28 in the world rankings defeated the Pole Hubert Hurkacz 3: 6, 6: 4, 7: 6 (6: 2) and thus reached his first Masters 1000 semifinals in two years.
Norrie dismantled number 15 in the world rankings in 73 minutes for his 45th victory on the ATP tour this season.
After the win, Norrie said: “It was such a big moment for me to play my first Masters 1000 quarter-finals, especially against Diego.
“I thought I was having an absolute fight. It’s probably the biggest win of my career. I’m really h -py with the way I have handled everything.
The win over Schwartzman, which Norrie also defeated in the first round of the US Open 2020, should give the Briton enough ranking points to make it into the top 20 in the world for the first time in his career.
“You have to be careful with Diego. He’s already snuck through a couple of games in this tournament. I had to keep my foot down and take the second break, relax and play great tennis,” added Norrie.
On Amazon Prime, former UK number one Greg Rusedski said: “It was an incredible performance from Norrie. The best tennis I’ve ever seen to dismantle Schwartzman. He now has a great chance of making his first final. In In my opinion, it was probably his best performance on a tennis court. “
Elsewhere in the men’s quarter-finals, Greek runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas will against unseeded Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili on Friday, while Germany’s number four in the world Alexander Zverev takes on Americans Taylor Fritz.
At the draw for the ladies Ons Jabeur reached the semifinals with a 7-5 6-3 win over Estonia Anett Kontaveit.
Tunisians secure victory Jabeur enters the top 10 in the world on Monday – and is the first Arab player, male or female, to do this.
She will play Paula Badosa in the last four after the Spaniard beat the 10th seed Angelique Kerber from Germany 6-4 7-5.
‘Norrie showed no tension’ analysis
Russell Fuller, tennis correspondent
Schwartzman was undetectable by the player, good enough to qualify for last year’s ATP final in London, but Norrie showed no signs of tension in an initial Masters quarter-final.
He broke the Argentine’s serve six out of seven times. I stopped counting the number of times Schwartzman put his hands on hips in defeat when another point came against him.
Norrie now has 45 wins this year, one more than Novak Djokovic, although he has played significantly more tournaments.
He may have done enough to make his Top 20 debut next week and will definitely replace Dan Evans as the new UK number one on Monday.
Norrie says that means little to him, and it may be a position that could change hands more regularly in the coming months.
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