This match-up has not favoured Norrie in the previous meetings, but he has been playing himself into decent recently.
The match began with both players off to a good start in the opener – striking the ball with intent; with pace and depth, forcing each other further behind the baseline while serving well. When some moments allowed for the opportunity to approach the fore court, they took their chances. Medvedev in particular hit impressive passing shots, with his backhand more reliable than his forehand. Norrie on the hand was inconsistent and had to rely on his first serve to compete well in the ongoing set. He was broken however in the 7th game, but managed to retrieve the break of serve in the 10th game. The two were tied at 5-5.
After intense rallying, Norrie converted the first set point he had at 6-5 on the Medvedev serve. He won the set by 7 games to 5. At the end of the first set, Norrie had made 78% of first serves, and had 16 winners to 17 unforced errors. Medvedev had 18 unforced errors to only 8 winners. He won 36% of the points behind his second serve.
Medvedev’s game had gone completely flat since losing the opening set. He was not nearly as dominant as he usually is against Norrie, a very familiar opponent. They both continued to vary their shot-making, employing drop shots when the other caught the opponent far behind the baseline, but they were both impressively quick to get to the drop shots. Medvedev had all to do though when he trailed 1-4. The entertained crowd wondered if the 11th seeded Russian would make a come back. Norrie held his nerve during longer rallies, when Medvedev worked his way slowly out of his slump; he served for the second set at 5-3 and arrived at 2 set points. The left-handed Norrie converted the second set point when he hit a forehand winner into the open court, going behind his opponent. Medvedev did not make it easy at the tail end of the set, but he found his efforts unrewarded. Norrie lead 7-5 6-3.
In a dramatic turn of events, Medvedev won the following two sets, thus leveling the match, but Norrie ultimately won the match by winning the 5th deciding set 7-5. The final score line was 7-5 6-3 4-6 1-6 7-5. He will play Federico Gomez in the next round.
