British No.1 Cameron Norrie admitted it would be ‘unreal’ to seal a first career grass-court title on home soil at Queen’s, as he progressed to the quarter-finals with a three-set victory over Jordan Thompson.
Norrie recovered from a set down to get past the big-serving Australian 4-6 6-3 6-2 to leave the world No.13 three matches away from the title.
The 27-year-old reached the final in West London two years ago, losing to that year’s Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini in three sets.
And Norrie revealed a grass-court title is a huge career target, and one that he hopes to be able to complete this week at Queen’s.
He said: “It would be unreal to do that, especially here at Queen’s.
“I came so close [in 2021], I still had never won a title when I was in the final with Berrettini and I really thought that was going to be the one.
“It was a tough one so it’s a big goal of mine to get a title on the grass. It’s a long way away and I still need to keep improving everything in my game.”
Norrie looked increasingly fluid as the near two-hour contest against his Australian opponent went on, as he raced away with the third set after a closely fought opening pair.
And Norrie was grateful for the extra time spent on the court, as he looks to get as much practice as possible on grass as he looks to repeat or better last year’s run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in a fortnight’s time.
“I am going to keep pushing my level match by match and spend as long as I can out there on the match court to feel good for Wimbledon,” he added.
“It was the perfect match today to do that against a player who is playing really well on the grass and was serving well and has played already two or three tournaments on the grass. To win against Tommo today was a great win for me.
“I was playing well, he was playing really well, serving well. There were just a couple of points on that first set and I felt like I really didn’t need to change that much, just keep my energy high.
“I enjoyed it and it was nice to get through the match from a set down.”
Norrie is now the only British player remaining in the singles after wild card Ryan Peniston was beaten 6-3 6-4 by second seed Holger Rune.
The Dane was in the kind of ruthless form that has seen his ranking rise to No.6 in the world since Peniston won the pair’s last contest in Eastbourne a year ago, conceding not a single break point against the Southend-born player.
But Peniston, who upset French No.1 Ugo Humbert in the previous round, is hopeful that he will get more opportunities to compete against the very best.
He said: “I was happy with how I competed, I was pleased with how I fought and sometimes it just doesn’t go the way you want. Hats off to Holger, he played a clean match today.
“The more matches I get to play against these guys of that level is a positive for me. It is about trying to get used to that level and playing those guys, it’s great and it makes me want to do it more.”
For the latest action on the British summer grass court season, check out the LTA website
