WIMBLEDON — British No. 1 Cameron Norrie lost an agonising four-hour battle against American Michael Zheng as his Wimbledon campaign came to an end in the first round on Monday.
It’s been a bad start for Brits at Wimbledon, as Cameron Norrie crashed out while Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu both withdrew due to injury. Cameron Spencer/Getty Images
Zheng, 22, who came through qualifying last week, won 6-7 (7-9), 6-2, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 7-6 (10-4) to oust Norrie, who reached the quarterfinals last year.
Norrie was looking to recover what had been a day to forget for the Brits at Wimbledon, with Jack Draper following Emma Raducanu in being forced to withdraw from the tournament due to injury.
However, it was Zheng who pulled off a sensational win to progress to the second round in front of a raucous crowd on Court 2 who were desperate for the British star to progress.
Norrie took the first set thanks to a tie-break, but couldn’t gain any momentum as Zhang roared back to win the second 6-2.
The third set showed that both men were up for the fight as they battled to another tie-break, with Norrie again taking control.
Zheng ensured the match would go to a fifth set and the pair went toe-to-to until the bitter end, exchanging blows and trying to wrestle momentum.
Of course, it went down to the wire with Zheng winning the match tie-break 10-4.
Earlier, in the women’s singles, Harriet Dart put in a spirited performance but was knocked out by Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
Promoted to Court 1 after Raducanu withdrew from the tournament on Sunday, Dart started slow but found her groove, winning the second set and giving hope to the home crowd that she could cause an upset.
However, Ostapenko, who won the French Open in 2017 and reached the Wimbledon semifinals the following year, regathered herself to win the third 6-4 in what was a thoroughly entertaining clash.
