Cameron Norrie of Great Britain beat Alex de Minaur of Australia 6-3 6-3 at the United Cup in Sydney on Thursday to give his team a winning start in the tournament.
The match was over in one and a half hours, as the vociferous support from the home crowd was not enough for the 23-year-old Aussie to win the match.
Two keys to Cameron Norrie’s win over Alex de Minaur at the United Cup
#1. Norrie played the angles really well with his forehand in the first set:
Norrie played the angles very well with his forehand in the first set to make de Minaur move from side to side frequently. The 27-year-old Brit then moved to the net to finish off points with volleys and smashes.
As a result, de Minaur was on the back foot for the majority of the first set, with Norrie’s inside-out and inside-in forehands from the baseline giving the Aussie a torrid time on a moderately fast surface. The Brit also imparted a lot of top spin to his forehand.
Norrie broke de Minaur in the fourth game of the first set and then held his serve to go 4-1 up. He then maintained the lead for the rest of the set to go one up.
#2. Norrie pounded de Minaur’s backhand in the second set to win the match:
Norrie kept playing his crosscourt forehands to de Minaur’s backhand consistently in the second set. The Aussie was thus forced to stretch a lot towards his left to get to the ball.
De Minaur tried to counter Norrie’s tactic by playing his shots deep to push the Brit back. However, he could not do it often enough, as Norrie managed to dictate terms with his forehand for the most part.
The Brit once again got the decisive break in the second set and never allowed the Aussie any chance to make a comeback.
Main Photo from Getty.
