Cameron Norrie suffers fourth defeat in a row as British No 1 is beaten by top seed and defending champion Taylor Fritz at the Japan Open, while Jack Draper is beaten by Alex De Minaur in an epic three-set contest
Wednesday 18 October 2023 15:56, UK
Cameron Norrie suffered a fourth defeat in succession as his poor form continued at the Japan Open.
The British No 1 was not helped by drawing top seed and defending champion Taylor Fritz in the first round but his 6-4 6-3 loss made it seven defeats in his last eight matches and 11 out of 14 dating back to Wimbledon.
Norrie recovered from an early break of serve in the opening set in Tokyo to pull back to 4-4 only to lose consecutive service games, giving Fritz the advantage he needed.
Fritz, ranked 10th in the world, had 13 aces and broke Norrie three times to improve to 7-6 against the Brit. He now faces the winner of the all-Argentinian affair between Francisco Cerundolo and Diego Schwartzman for a place in the quarter-finals.
There was also defeat for Jack Draper but he pushed fourth seed Alex de Minaur all the way in a gruelling clash lasting three hours and five minutes. Draper, who came through qualifying, won the opening set before De Minaur fought back to take the second on a tie-break.
Draper had the chance to serve out the match when he broke for 5-4 in the deciding set but he began to struggle with cramp and De Minaur hit straight back, eventually sealing a 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-1) victory.
Second seed Casper Ruud defeated wild-card entry Yosuke Watanuki 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 to book a match against American player Marcus Giron.
Other winners included Alexei Popyrin, Ben Shelton, Cristian Garin and Diego Schwatzman.
Later on Tuesday British number two Dan Evans crashed out in the first round of the Stockholm Open.
The 33-year-old, who ran Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner close at his previous two tournaments, slumped 6-4 7-6 (7-1) to Austrian world number 181 Filip Misolic.
Top-seeded Beatriz Haddad-Maia and second-seeded Magda Linette were both eliminated in the first round of the Jiangxi Open.
Nao Hibino upset Haddad-Maia 7-6 (7-2) 6-3, while Valeria Savinykh beat Linette 7-5 3-6 7-6 (7-3).
Sixth-seeded Anna Blinkova also lost, falling to Chinese qualifier You Xiaodi 6-1 6-1, while Hong Kong Open winner Leylah Fernandez defeated wildcard Guo Hanyu 6-1 6-3.
Other winners in China included Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Varvara Gravach and Ulrikke Eikeri.
In Transylvania, Eva Lys of Germany surprised top-seeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-3 6-3 in just 72 minutes in the first round in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Lys won 31 of 51 first-service points (60.8 per cent) and converted six of her seven chances to break Cirstea's serve.
The second and third seeds also bowed out. Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse beat No 2 American Alycia Parks 6-2 1-6 6-4, and Ukraine's Daria Snigur upset No 3 Greet Minnen of Belgium 6-3 6-2 in only 65 minutes.
