Cameron Norrie battled past Holger Rune 7-6(5) 4-6 6-4 in a tight first round match at the Cincinnati Masters to set up an all-British clash with Andy Murray.
It’s the first time Norrie has won in Cincinnati and despite not being at his best, he did enough to get over the line.
Norrie was broken early by an aggressive Rune, but he broke back as the first set went to a tie-break.
It was Norrie who edged the tiebreak 7-5 to the frustration of Rune who threw his racquet in frustration and used his anger to break immediately at the start of the second set.
A poor service game from Rune saw Norrie break back to square things up at 4-4, only for the Dane to break for a second time, before holding his serve to win the second set.
The scrappy affair continued in the decider, with Norrie making the crucial break to go 4-2 up. But, Rune broke back with the match looking like it was going to a tie-break.
But, Norrie had other ideas and had two match points as Ruud made some errors including a double point which handed the match to the British player.
MURRAY AWAITS IN THE NEXT ROUND
Norrie will play Murray in the second round in Cincinnati after the three-time Grand Slam champion came through a dramatic match against Stanislas Wawrinka.
It will be the second time the pair have played each other, with Murray winning the only meeting between them at the 2019 China Open.
Earlier on Monday, Norrie and Murray were confirmed to represent Great Britain at next month’s Davis Cup, along with Dan Evans and Joe Sailsbury.
The Davis Cup is known as the ‘World Cup of Tennis’ and will see Britain play at home for the first time in four years.
Sixteen countries will battle it out for the trophy, and have been divided into four groups of four nations. Glasgow will host the Group D action, as the Brits face Kazakhstan, United States and the Netherlands between September 13 and 18.
