Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans Triumph, Raducanu Falls
US Open
August 31, 2022
Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans can keep the Brits smiling at Flushing Meadows after the painful exit of defending champion Emma Raducanu.
The US Open is already demonstrating the glorious unpredictability of tennis. And there is plenty to enjoy looking ahead across the next year.
Cameron Norrie will also have a good chance at Wimbledon 2023. And you can bet Raducanu will come storming back even stronger for her home major!
For now their fortunes have contrasted rather sharply, though.
Seventh seed Norrie got off to a flying start against the temperamentally unpredictable Benoit Paire.
The first bagel took just eighteen minutes, before the Frenchman began to make a match of it.
But true resistance was only temporary as Norrie eventually ran away with the contest to close out with a comfortable 6-0, 7-6 (7-1). 6-0.
Norrie can’t play a higher-ranked opponent until the quarter-finals. With Novak Djokovic and Sascha Zverev absent, he has an outside chance of stunning glory in New York.
Cam will play Joao Sousa on Thursday and hope to build more momentum.
And Dan Evans showed why he loves this tournament with a dominant display against tricky customer Jiri Vesely.
The 20th seed and British number two beat the Czech 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 to march forward. ‘I played very well,’ Evans admitted, as his thoughts began to turn to his next opponent, James Duckworth of Australia.
And the Brits needed all the good news they could get after world superstar Emma Raducanu fell at the first hurdle.
Emma so wanted to defend her title in style and admitted it ‘hurt a lot’ when she was defeated 3-6, 3-6 by the dangerous Alize Cornet.
But remember it was Cornet who surprisingly ended Iga Swiatek’s 37-match unbeaten run earlier this year. So there is really no shame in the teenager-champion’s early exit.
Raducanu is learning all the time and she is sure to come out fighting again at Wimbledon 2023.
Will you be there to support all the greats at the biggest tournament of them all?