Australian Open: Cameron Norrie survives scare from Italian qualifier to reach third round

Giulio Zeppieri gives the British No1 a real fright before being defeated in Melbourne

Cameron Norrie recovered from two sets down to edge out Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri at the Australian Open on Thursday.

The British No1 admitted that he was aided by rain delays, one coming just after the second set, which gave him time to talk to his coach Facundo Lugones and regroup.

He broke Zeppieri in the very next game to send him on his way to coming back from two sets down to win for only the third time in his career, the end result 3-6 6-7 6-2 6-4 6-4 in his favour.

It made him the first British player into round three on a busy day for the Brits with Jack Draper, Katie Boulter and Emma Raducanu all in action.

Norrie, who downplayed fears over his fitness despite a medical timeout, now faces No11 seed Casper Ruud after a match which lasted for three hours and 36 minutes.

Afterwards, Norrie said: “On a day when I was not feeling it, that was massive for me. For the first hour-and-a-half… I couldn’t play. I somehow lifted and won the third set. Then, I knew I was going to win the match and I managed to play solid enough.

“I was b****ing and whining too much. I needed to stop making excuses. He was hitting so many winners and serving great. I was able to lift my energy somehow and break him.”

Draper’s hopes of joining Norrie in the second round were denied by No14 seed Tommy Paul.

Draper had had to come through a marathon five-setter in his opening round match, after which he vomited in a courtside bin.

He showed little ill effects, though, against Paul, whom Draper had beaten in their past two encounters - most recently in Adelaide last week.

But Paul, a semi-finalist in Melbourne a year ago, started the stronger of the pair in the match, which had a delayed start because of the poor weather.

In the end, the American came off a 6-2 3-6 6-3 7-5 winner to book his passage into the third round.

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