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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Rachel Vickers-Price

Cameron Norrie apologises for throwing racquet into crowd after ASB Classic defeat

Norrie was frustrated after losing in Auckland - (Getty Images)

British number two Cameron Norrie has been sent packing in round one of the ASB Classic in Auckland.

Norrie was bounced out in straight sets by Argentina's Facundo Diaz Acosta 6-2 6-3.

Auckland-born Norrie dubbed his own match a "shocker" in a post-match interview with Radio New Zealand (RNZ).

"I was missing the ball a lot ... I'm disappointed in my attitude, I couldn't find the ball at all," Norrie said.

He added: "I wanted to come here and play well, and it ended up being the complete opposite."

As the match slipped out of his grasp, the ATP-ranked 48 British star could be seen letting his frustration get to him.

Footage from the match showed the former world number eight throw his racquet in anger and accidentally hit a spectator in the front row of the centre court.

Norrie said to RNZ: "I apologised to the woman, and she was okay ... it barely touched her and she was laughing.

"But I didn't mean to do that, and it was definitely a wake-up call."

Acosta will face compatriot Sebastian Baez in the second round.

Paul Jubb has failed to qualify for the Australian Open, going down to Argentina's Juan Pablo Ficovich 6-4 6-4.

Despite Jubb's best efforts, Ficovich proved forceful in the first set, with the Briton struggling to match the Argentinian's service game.

Ficovich, with a current ATP ranking of 193, came out of the gate strong and won an early break during the first set.

Jubb, who has a current ATP ranking of 189, was unable to recover from the early setback, giving up the set 6-4.

The Argentine continued to overwhelm Jubb thereafter, leading to consecutive breaks that gave him a 5-1 lead, before sealing a victory on 6-4 to advance to the second round of the Australian Open qualifiers.

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