Cameron Norrie suffered a familiar defeat to Alexander Zverev to end British singles hopes at the Australian Open.
Norrie was the only British player to make the third round and knew he would have his work cut out against third seed Zverev, who has now beaten him in all seven of their tour-level meetings.
Two years ago Norrie pushed the German all the way to a fifth-set tie-break in the last 16 at Melbourne Park, and he gave himself a chance by taking the second set here only to fade badly in a 7-5 4-6 6-3 6-1 defeat.
Norrie’s game plan was apparent from the start, the 26th seed stepping into the court and attacking Zverev at every opportunity.
It brought him a break to love in just the second game but Norrie was unable to cement it, and the metronomic German took the opening set after breaking serve again in the 11th game.
Norrie did not let his head drop, though, continuing to take an aggressive approach and keeping Zverev off balance by sprinkling in drop shots and rushes to the net.
He saved three break points in a long fifth game and tried to feed off the energy of the packed crowd on John Cain Arena.
A shot drilled at the face of Zverev in the eighth game appeared to rattle the German, who reached his third grand slam final here last year, and two games later Norrie got his chance.
Two big returns rushed Zverev, who netted a forehand to put Norrie back on level terms.
Parity did not last long, though, a poor service game from the British number two at 1-1 in the third game handing Zverev the initiative again, and from there he tightened his grip.
Norrie prides himself on his physical capabilities but he had played two long, demanding matches, beating Benjamin Bonzi in five sets and then Emilio Nava in four, and his capacity to match Zverev from the baseline began to diminish.
The third seed was relentless in the fourth set, with Norrie only ending a run of seven games in a row against him when he was 5-0 down.
Norrie is certainly trending in the right direction again despite the defeat and will hope for more luck of the draw in the grand slams to come.
It is the second major in a row where Britain has had a first-week wipeout, and Jack Draper’s return – hopefully in the Davis Cup next month – cannot come soon enough.
PA
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