British interest in the men’s singles at Wimbledon is over after Cameron Norrie was beaten in straight sets by world No4 Alexander Zverev on Centre Court on Saturday.
Norrie lost 4-6, 4-6, 6-7 to his German opponent, who won 90 per cent of his first serve points. Zverev will now face either American 13th seed Taylor Fritz or 24th seed Alejandro Tabilo of Chile in the fourth round.
Norrie put in an impressive display but couldn’t make the big points count against the fierce-serving 27-year-old, who has now beaten the Brit in all six meetings between the players at tour level. Only against France’s Adrian Mannarino — who he has faced nine times and beaten every time — has Zverev played as many times without the defeat.
Norrie has had a difficult year and fallen to 42nd in the rankings as a result. But his performances at SW19 had been promising, beating Facundo Diaz Acosta of Argentina in straight sets in the first round before another three-set victory, this time against British No1 Jack Draper, in the second. Draper had replaced Norrie as Britain’s highest-ranked men’s player only last month.
But his run at Wimbledon is over despite four set points coming and going in a third-set tiebreak marathon which finally ended in Zverev’s favour, by 17 points to 15.
Norrie reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 2022, losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic, but has never gone beyond the fourth round of a foreign slam.
Zverev said after victory: “Cam is an incredible player. Obviously grass is going to be his favourite surface as a Wimbledon semi-finalist here.
“I knew I had to play at my best level. I’m extremely happy with my performance, extremely happy with my game. It’s an honour to play on Centre Court, I’ve played on all the centre courts around the world but I think Wimbledon is still something more special and something different.”
Zverev and Norrie were playing in front of the likes of legendary cyclist Sir Chris Hoy, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, and English cricket great Ben Stokes OBE at Centre Court.
