Cameron Norrie loses out to Novak Djokovic in feisty last-16 Italian Open encounter
In the third assembly between the pair, Norrie matched the 22-time Grand Slam champion for a lot of the match however ultimately fell simply brief in a 6-3, 6-4 loss.
Things began frostily following a criticism by Norrie when Djokovic arrived 10 minutes late. It led to stern exchanges within the first set, and the animosity solely grew when the Briton hit a smash into Djokovic’s left leg together with his again turned within the second.
There was a worrying finish to the match for Norrie per week and a half out from the French Open when he wanted therapy on his proper hip late within the second set.
The British No1’s goal to keep away from a hat-trick of defeats diminished when he was damaged in his opening service recreation of the match.
Djokovic instantly used the drop shot to good impact and dropped the tempo of his groundstrokes, which gave Norrie little tempo to work with and persistently let to unforced errors from his aspect of the courtroom.
Having taken the primary set in 40 minutes, the Serbian seemed set to race away with the win as he broke early within the second set for a 2-1 lead just for Norrie to interrupt again within the very subsequent recreation, together with his smash into Djokovic leg. It led to a glare again and one other on the change of ends a recreation later.
In what proved a good second set, Norrie discovered himself damaged once more in recreation 9 after which Djokovic served out the match after his opponent’s medical timeout.