Cameron Norrie becomes first British man to reach Wimbledon quarter-finals in five years with destruction of Tommy Paul
CAMERON NORRIE became the first British man for five years to make it to the last eight at Wimbledon.
The last remaining home grown player in the singles beat American Tommy Paul 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 in front of a rapturous Court One crowd.
And South Africa-born Norrie has picked up the baton left by two-times winner Andy Murray who last reached the quarter-finals in 2017.
Nerveless Nozza is already into uncharted territory having never made it beyond the third round in any of his previous 18 Grand Slams.
He is now cruising into the second week of the biggest tennis tournament in the world and looking more and more at home on the grass of SW19.
He has already been dubbed “the dog” by regular practice partner Paul who marvels at the way the athletic British number one fights stubbornly for every single point of a match.
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And there were times when left-hander Norrie lived up to his reputation in game six of the first set where he faced four break points before eventually holding his serve.
Ninth seed Norrie faces David Goffin in Tuesday’s battle for a place in the last four. The Belgian beat Frenchman Frances Tiafoe in a four and a half hour marathon five setter earlier in the day.
But he is favourite to record another stunning win with the possibility of meeting defending champion Novak Djokovic in Friday’s semi-finals.
Norrie walked onto the turf as the last person standing for team GB in the singles. Heather Watson had moments earlier succumbed in straight sets to German Jule Niemeier.
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The relative ease with which he dispatched pal Paul over 2hrs and 21 minutes is a huge relief for those flying the flag during Wimbledon fortnight.
Norrie, 26, said: “I am shocked to make the quarters for the first time. To play a match like that, a huge match for me and to play the way I did was really good. I really enjoyed it. It was pretty crazy, a lot of feelings.”
Seventeen Brits entered the first round draw and Norrie has called on the home crowd to back him all the way.
He said: “I am the last one left so why not get behind me even more? From the first round everyone has been supporting me and it showed in the tougher situations. When I was serving for the match a lot of scenarios were in my mind and I was able to close it off.
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“If you watch me in 2017 here I wasn’t very patient, I wanted it all to happen very quickly.
“I got chopped up in the first round so I have matured a lot and stayed very patient with myself. Grass has not probably been my favourite surface but one day in the future maybe.”