Cameron Norrie kept alive his hopes of qualifying for the ATP Finals with a dominant victory over Federico Delbonis in the first round of the Rolex Paris Masters.
The British No1 endured a painful defeat against Felix Auger-Aliassime in Vienna last week having held match points but began strongly in the French capital, winning nine games in a row in a 6-2 6-1 victory over Argentinian Delbonis. It was Norrie’s 100th tour-level win, 49 of which have come this year.
The 26-year-old Norrie said: “I know the score looked fairly comfortable but there were a lot of tough games in there. I felt I played a pretty complete match and really enjoyed my tennis again. It was far from easy but I was happy with my performance.”
Norrie sits 11th in the race to qualify for the eight-man season-ending tournament in Turin and needs to make up 140 points on the Italian Jannik Sinner over the next two weeks.
“It’s pretty cool just to be in the race for that and to be playing these matches with a little added pressure and a little added motivation,” said Norrie, who hit another career-high ranking of 13th. “You’re kind of watching what everyone else is doing and I think it’s pretty interesting and it’s exactly where I want to be and the matches I want to be playing.”
In the second round Norrie will face either the American Reilly Opelka or Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic.