Norrie Books Place In Lyon Final Against Tsitsipas
Cameron Norrie found the zone on Saturday and ended the day with two wins to earn his place in the final of the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon. He started by finishing out the third set of a rain-delayed 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 quarter-final win over Arthur Rinderknech before taking out Karen Khachanov 6-1, 6-1 in the semi-finals.
“Everything was working well: serving well, returning well, anticipating the ball well,” Norrie said. “I came forward when I needed to and was aggressive with good depth. It was nice to come through like that.”
He will face Stefanos Tsitsipas in Sunday’s final as he seeks his first ATP Tour title. It will mark Norrie’s third final and second of 2021 after losing the Estoril Open title in a third-set tie-break to Albert Ramos-Vinolas. The World No. 49 improved to 22-10 on the year and is 2-1 in his ATP Head2Head series with Khachanov with all three meetings taking place this year.
“I had a tough loss in my last final so it’s nice I can get another opportunity so soon,” Norrie said. “It’s going to be tough against Stefanos. He’s in the zone as well, so it’s going to be an interesting final.”
[WATCH LIVE 1]Earlier in the week, Norrie upset top seed and World No. 4 Dominic Thiem for his biggest win ever, and he did so in dominant fashion 6-3, 6-2. His performance level has only gotten stronger. On Saturday, Norrie benefitted from his time on court earlier in the day against Rinderknech.
“You just come out and you’re feeling the ball good and you’re playing well, I think I used that to my advantage,” Norrie said. “I played pretty flawless and pretty clean tennis against Karen. I returned exceptionally well, especially after facing Arthur’s serve.”
From the start of the semi-final match, Norrie took pace away from the big-hitting Khachanov, mixing things up with his lefty slice and dictating play. He had to save just one break point and converted on 71 per cent of his break-point chances (5/7), including to break the Russian on match point.
“I played pretty lights out in the match against Karen,” Norrie said. “It was perfect conditions. I think my game frustrated him a lot. Definitely a good day for me, I’ll take it.”
Khachanov, who owns four ATP Tour titles, was seeking his first final appearance since the 2018 Rolex Paris Masters.