Cam Norrie beats Benoit Paire to join Andy Murray in US Open second round

Great Britain’s No.1 Cameron Norrie has joined Andy Murray in the US Open second round with a straight-sets victory over Frenchman Benoit Paire.

Norrie, the seventh seed at Flushing Meadows this year, steamrolled past world No.173 Paire 6-0 in the first set but required a tie-break in the second.

The third set in the Court 11 sunshine was much more straightforward, with Norrie registering a 6-0 7-6 6-0 victory to set up a second-round tie against either American Mackenzie McDonald or Portugal’s Joao Sousa.

‘I was pretty nervous, coming out here in the first round,’ Norrie said in his post-match interview. ‘Benoit Paire can be unpredictable and flashy.

‘It was a quick first set, but that can be pretty dangerous sometimes. Suddenly he switches, and was playing really well [in the second set].

‘He played a really good game to break me and then serve for the set. He kind of went away in the third, which I’ll take every day of the week when it’s this hot!’

Asked about the importance of winning quickly in the early rounds to help save energy for later in the tournament, he added: ‘I guess [that’s right].

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‘But I’m happy to be through any way possible. That first and third sets was pretty quick, but I can work on a few things and it only gets tougher.

‘I can be a little more aggressive, you can always build on that first round performance.’

Norrie’s furthest US Open run came in 2020 when he reached the third round but he is currently playing some of the best tennis of his career and produced his greatest Grand Slam performance at Wimbledon in July, reaching the semi-finals.

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