Wimbledon 2023: Cameron Norrie battles through to second round with tough win over Tomas Machac

Cameron Norrie faced a tough match against Tomas Machac as he fought for a 6-3 4-6 6-1 6-4 victory in the first round of Wimbledon on Tuesday evening.

The 27-year-old has the Rio Open title to his name already this season and reached the quarter-final at Queen’s until his defeat at the hands of Sebastian Korda, and was the favourite to defeat his Czech opponent.

For Machac this is something of a breakthrough year, as the 22-year-old reached his first ever quarter-final of an ATP tournament, and he gave his British opponent a tough examination.

Norrie was able to take the first set 6-4, before Machac took the second by the same scoreline.

The third set was far more comfortable as Norrie won 6-1, but found himself 4-3 down in the fourth set as the younger man looked determined to take it the distance, but he was able to move 15-30 up to break his opponent and go 5-4 clear.

With the crowd cheering him on he had the chance to serve for the match on Court One and held his nerve to move through to the second round.

Speaking to BBC Sport after his win, Norrie celebrated both his victory and the atmosphere, saying: “I was coming out today with a smile on my face, coming out here to this atmosphere. The first set I was just really enjoying it and playing a good level. He played a really aggressive second set, I had some chances early on but I dropped a little bit difficult and fought well.

“A great first match for me, it’s so good to play under the roof and the atmosphere was great, you guys got me through that fourth set to break and then hold.

“The last two years it was me waiting in the rain. It was nice to make a run last year and earn the right to play on this court. I was able to practise on it before as well so that was advantage to me. Thanks to Wimbledon.

“I just came out here firing. It wasn’t straightforward, I had to battle. But it’s nice to get it out of the way and start my campaign here.”

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