Cameron Norrie: British number two beats Andrey Rublev at Erste Bank Open

Britain’s Cameron Norrie battled his way to victory over seventh seed Andrey Rublev to progress to the second round of the Erste Bank Open.

World number 35 Norrie won the two-hour match 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 in Austria.

Norrie, 30, started the match in fine fashion and took the opening set in just 34 minutes before breaking serve to move 2-0 up in the second.

The Briton served for the match at 5-4, but Rublev landed his first break of serve to force a tie-break, which he won to set up a deciding set.

Former world number eight Norrie regrouped to break Rublev’s serve in the second game to take command of the third set.

Norrie broke once more to book his spot in the next round, where he will face either Australia’s Alexei Popyrin or Italy’s Matteo Berrettini.

“It was all round a really good performance, I was moving well and able to dictate the points,” said Norrie.

“I got a bit tight and tentative when I was serving for the match but credit to him staying in and competing.”

Meanwhile, there was heartbreak for British number three Jacob Fearnley who was beaten by second seed Alexander Zverev in the first round.

After losing the first set, Fearnley, ranked 81st in the world, stunned the German to level the match and managed to force a third-set tie-break.

However, Zverev won the hard-fought breaker to progress 6-4 1-6 7-6 (7-5) and will face Italian qualifier Matteo Arnaldi in the second round.

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