Rain Delay Reset: Norrie Advances To Buenos Aires SFs

Despite several challenges in Friday’s rain-hindered quarter-final in Buenos Aires, second seed Cameron Norrie prevailed to book his ticket into the Argentina Open semi-finals.

The World No. 12 had to rally from a set down against home hope Tomas Martin Etcheverry to claim a 5-7, 6-0, 6-3 victory. After the Argentine grabbed the opening set, rain halted play for a brief period before Norrie won 12 of the next 15 games to advance.

“I knew it was going to be difficult, he came out and played really well,” Norrie said. “It was so different today than the other day when I played Facundo [Diaz Acosta] when it was boiling. Today was freezing. Probably a bit warmer in London today than here in Buenos Aires!

“He played a really good first set and served well. I came out really strong after the rain delay and again after the second rain delay. I managed to scrape through in a pretty difficult match.”

The 27-year-old, who saved five of seven break points faced, turned the match around by adjusting his court positioning, taking a more aggressive stance to dictate play from the baseline. Despite another rain delay occurring with Norrie serving at 3-1 in the deciding set, the British No. 1 held his nerve in the closing stages to advance to his second semi-final of the season [Auckland].

The lefty will next take on Peruvian qualifier Juan Pablo Varillas, who upset third seed Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 6-4. Varillas, 27, earned the second Top-20 win of his career [’19 Gstaad d. Bautista Agut] to advance to his first Tour-level semi-final. Following Friday’s victory, the Lima native is at a career-high No. 81 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.