Lyon Open: Defending champion Cameron Norrie reaches semi-finals but Jack Draper bows out in last eight

Cameron Norrie continued his title defence at the Lyon Open with a 6-2 2-6 6-1 quarter-final win over Sebastian Baez, but fellow Brit Jack Draper suffered defeat to Francisco Cerundolo.

The two British players were on course to meet each other in the last four, but Draper’s 6-4 4-6 3-6 loss to the Argentine fourth seed ended his run.

Second seed Norrie will now face Cerundolo for a place in the showcase match against one of the quarter-finalists on the other side of the draw: Felix Auger-Aliassime, Arthur Fils, Tommy Paul or Brandon Nakashima.

The world No. 14 has a strong record at the ATP 250 event, reaching the 2021 final before winning the title last year.

His victory over Baez was his record-extending 13th victory in Lyon, and came after a battle lasting one hour, 51 minutes.

Norrie hit four aces and earned four breaks of serve in the three-set victory, shaking off a poor second set with a clinical performance in the decider.

Draper, however, was outlasted by Cerundolo in the deciding set of their encounter earlier on Thursday.

The 21-year-old, competing at his first event since Monte Carlo in April, earned impressive wins over Alexandre Muller and fifth seed Miomir Kecmanovic to reach the last eight in Lyon.

Things were looking good after a fast start from the Brit, who earned the only break of the first set to claim the first set, winning 90% of his first serve points.

But the Argentinian struck back in the second as the match opened up, Cerundolo breaking twice and Draper once as the No. 4 seed forced a decider.

Cerundolo was solid on serve in set three, saving the only break point he faced and clinching one of the six he earned to progress to the semi-finals.

– – –