sport news British No 1 Cam Norrie hangs tough to beat Taylor Fritz and level Davis Cup ... trends now
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Cam Norrie stepped up to his role as the British No 1 on Wednesday night with a stirring rearguard action that kept his team’s Davis Cup hopes alive against the USA.
With Andy Murray left out of the singles, Norrie repaired the damage of an opening defeat for Dan Evans by overcoming his American counterpart Taylor Fritz 2-6, 7-6, 7-5.
That left Murray to partner world doubles No 1 Joe Salisbury in a late night decider against Rajeev Ram and Jack Sock that would decide this opening round robin match.
Cam Norrie celebrates his dramatic victory over Taylor Fritz on Wednesday night
A team loss would be survivable with matches to come against Holland and Kazakhstan, but victory would put the host nation in charge as they try to reach November’s World Group finals.
At a career high ranking of eight, Norrie came perilously close to defeat in the second set before a passionate crowd that included his Glaswegian father David, who had flown all the way from New Zealand to watch.
He took the tie-break 7-2 but failed to serve out the match at the first time of asking at 5-4 in the decider. At 5-5 he broke to love with a series of rifled return winners and made no mistake second time round.
It has been four years since the British team last played at the Emirates Arena, a regular venue in their glory years around the
