Cameron Norrie welcomes new chant as he eases into Wimbledon fourth round

Cameron Norrie was spurred on by an enthusiastic home crowd as he followed Heather Watson by breaking new ground and reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon.

This was the sixth time in the last nine grand slams that the British number one had made it to the last 32 but – not helped by coming up against the likes of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer – he had never gone further.

He changed that in emphatic fashion against Steve Johnson, though, outclassing the American 6-4 6-1 6-0 in just an hour and 49 minutes for his first Centre Court victory.

Midway through the second set, a bold fan decided to begin a chant of ‘Norrie, Norrie, Norrie, Oi, Oi, Oi’, which soon caught on – and was met with approval by its subject.

“It was pretty funny,” said Norrie. “Every time they said it, I broke serve. It’s a good sign. I’m a little bit superstitious. I really enjoyed the match thoroughly. It definitely added to the noise of the match and atmosphere out there on Centre Court.

“I think it was maybe the first time this tournament at change of ends, I was just in the moment, sitting there enjoying it, just thinking in the present, a little bit more at peace. In the other matches I was a bit thinking what I’m doing next, thinking about the situation too much.

“Today I was very, very relaxed. (It was) maybe one of the bigger matches in my career obviously to make the second week for the first time. I had a great opportunity today and I managed to play the level that I wanted to.”

Norrie, seeded ninth, is the highest-ranked player in his quarter but he had to battle from two sets to one down to beat Spain’s Jaume Munar in the previous round.

He was a heavy favourite against world number 93 Johnson, but the big-serving 32-year-old is at his