Britain’s Cameron Norrie rises to the occasion by overpowering Tommy Paul

Over the delirious past 18 months in the life of Cameron Norrie, he had already achieved plenty. He has racked up ATP titles, lifting four trophies along with another five finals. Among his palmarès now is one of the biggest tournaments in the sport, Indian Wells. Two months ago he rose into the top 10. Still top 15 in the ATP race this year, he has not let up.

But during this period of growth and consolidation, there has been one glaring gap in Norrie’s résumé considering the heights he has reached. Until this week, his best grand slam results were a flurry of third-round finishes. He has had some tough draws, losses to Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, but there were also genuine disappointments. Last month, at the French Open, he thought his time had come for a deep run. It had not.

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So much of what Norrie has achieved has come in his own time and at his own pace, and this breakthrough has been no different. At the most ideal venue for his first big run, in front of a raucous No 1 Court crowd, the ninth seed reached a grand slam quarter-final for the first time by completely outplaying Tommy Paul 6-4, 7-5, 6-4.

“For me, it’s shocking I’ve made the quarters, first time,” Norrie said. “In front of my family, a lot of friends here from college. So special. A huge match today for both of us, just to play the way that I did is really good. To execute everything, I really enjoyed it.”

Across the net, Paul has his own connection to these courts. He is one of few players to count Tim Henman as one of his biggest idols, something that even few British players ever say. As he and his coach, Brad Stein, devised a plan for him to become a more attacking