Norrie to face fellow Briton Draper in Queen’s quarter-finalson June 16, 2021 at 4:10 pm
British number two Cameron Norrie will face teenage compatriot Jack Draper in the Queen’s quarter-finals after both win on Wednesday.
Norrie, 25, won 7-5 6-2 against Russian fifth seed Aslan Karatsev, a semi-finalist at the Australian Open.
Draper set up the all-British match with a 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-0) win against Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik.
The 19-year-old is the youngest British player to reach an ATP quarter-final since Andy Murray in 2006.
Draper, a beaten finalist in the 2018 Wimbledon boys’ singles, is seen as one of the nation’s brightest prospects and showed why by beating Italian world number 19 Jannik Sinner in his opening match at Queen’s.
That was his first win on the ATP Tour and he backed it up with another impressive victory against the unpredictable and unorthodox Bublik.
“To be a quarter-finalist at Queen’s sounds amazing,” said Draper, who seems to thrives on the big occasion and regularly pumped up the crowd.
“I thought I blew it near the end but I’m glad I stuck with it. The crowd helped me get over the line.”
Norrie has won 27 of his 39 matches so far in 2021 – only top-10 players Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev and Novak Djokovic have earned as many victories this year.
After edging a hard-fought first set, Norrie eased away in the second as Karatsev appeared to be hampered by an injury after a fall.
The Briton, now at a career-high 41st in the world, has won 14 matches against an opponent ranked above him this year.
“He’s having a great year and won a lot this year so it’s a huge win for me,” said Norrie, who has reached the third round of the past three Grand Slams.
“It’s another match on the grass, it is all invaluable for me.”
Norrie and Draper were two of four British men to reach the second round, with former world number one Andy Murray and British number one Dan Evans also progressing on Tuesday.
On Thursday, Murray faces Italian world number nine and top seed Matteo Berrettini, while sixth seed Evans takes on France’s Adrian Mannarino.
Norrie was also one of the few British winners in the doubles events, coming with Australian Ales De Minaur to beat Britain’s Joe Salisbury and his American partner Rajeev Ram in three sets.
The all-British duos of Neal and Ken Skupski, Liam Broady and Ryan Peniston and Dom Inglot and Luke Bambridge were also defeated, while Jamie Murray and Brazilian partner Bruno Soares went down in three sets to Aslan Karatsev and Max Purcell.
