Cameron Norrie
Photo: Alan Lee / www.photosport.nz
With no seeded players surviving the first round of the men’s ASB Classic attention turned to how the tournament’s top three players would fare in the second round on Wednesday.
But once again Auckland’s weather would play a part.
With play back on centre court in the morning, second seed Auckland-raised Cameron Norrie returned for a third main draw appearance and faced Czech qualifier Jiri Lehecka.
Norrie won the first set 6-4 lost the second in a tiebreak 7-6 and then the rain came.
Play was suspended during the deciding set with Norrie leading three games to love.
Needing to get the game completed, organisers moved the match indoors – after a significant wait of a couple of hours – the 2019 finalist completed the win he needed to move on the quarterfinals against Marcos Giron.
Norrie, who represents Britain, came to Auckland in top form after defeating Australian Alex de Minaur, Spaniard Rafael Nadal and American Taylor Fritz in Sydney this month.
Conditions for his first game in front of friends and family this year were challenging but something the 27-year-old recognised was all part of tennis.
“When you’re favourite I think it’s a little bit more difficult especially coming from playing last week indoors in Sydney and the conditions are a lot different and the courts a lot quicker, it was a strange day but I’m through so I’m happy.”
Earlier, third seed Diego Schwartzman opened the day’s play on centre court against 22-year-old American Jenson Brooksby.
Brooksby took control early winning the first set 6-1 before Schwartzman retired with an upper leg injury
Giron moved on the next round with a 6-4 6-4 win over fellow American JJ Wolf.
Richard Gasquet beat lucky loser Joao Sousa 7-6 6-2.
David Goffin and Christopher Eubanks briefly started on centre court before finishing their match indoors – a 6-2 6-4 win to Goffin.
The number one seed, Norway’s Casper Ruud, opened the night session against Laslo Djere – nearly three hours after his scheduled start time on the indoor court.
Ruud is third in the world rankings and is the highest-ranked male player in recent times to compete at the New Zealand tournament.
The 24-year-old went out in the round of 32 when the ASB Classic was last played in 2020.
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