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The inclement weather relented allowing the draw at this year’s Rio Open to reach the quarter final stage with the defending champion, Cameron Norrie, Britain’s No1, storming past Chile’s Tomas Barrios Vera 61 6-1 in just 61-minutes.
Last night with the rain there was a lot of waiting around but I managed to come out here and reset and played really, really well, so I’m pleased Cameron Norrie
Norrie dominated the match from the opening moments by taking a 2-0 lead and making the most of the Chilean’s unforced errors.
But Barrios Vera recovered his serve playing an aggressive game only for the Brit to regain the advantage, but the unforced errors crept back allowing the second seed to pocket the opening set after just 25-minutes.
Norrie continued to dictate play from the baseline in the second as Barrios Vera struggled to get into the contest as he dropped the opening game with Norrie attacking the net.
He did succeed in making a mark when he broke back in the fourth game but, as in the opening set, he was unable to follow that up as Norrie regained control and couldn’t prevent the defending champion from breaking to take a 4-1 lead and canter away with the match to secure his allotted place in the last four with a backhand winner to capture his opponent’s serve for a sixth time.
“I was really accurate with my ball,” Norrie, who has now dropped just seven games in two matches en route to the quarter finals. “I hit very close to the line today and I was able to spread the court and made it difficult for him because I was able to push him back and use the angles. And I was very disciplined on the return.
“Last night with the rain there was a lot of waiting around but I managed to come out here and reset and played really, really well, so I’m pleased.
“It’s a good sign for me when I’m hitting the forehand up the line well. Maybe sometimes I go for it a little too much and get a little overconfident, but especially on clay it’s a good one to use to surprise them. But you don’t want to abuse it.”
His next opponent is Thiago Seymour Wild who defeated Spain’s Jaume Munar 6-2 4-6 6-3 in a match which had been suspended overnight.
Wild card Joao Fonseca scores another win
(Photo by Buda Mendes/Getty Images)
In other matches, Joao Fonceca, the 17-year-old localL wild card, backed up his straight sets win over the seventh seed Frenchman Arthur Fils by taking out a second Chilean, Cristian Garin, 6-4 6-4.
“I’m living a dream and I haven’t realised what I’ve achieved yet,”Fonseca said after his second win at the ATP 500 level event. “But I wanna keep dreaming, I’m really happy with my path up until now but I want more. I’m happy with the way I’ve been playing and how I grew this past year not only technically but also mentally and physically. I can’t thank my team, my family and friends enough.”
“I knew Cristian was an experienced guy, he knows how to face pressure and today I was a bit more tense at the start of the match. But I adapted quickly, kept focused and with the help of the crowd I managed to win.”
In the top half, another Brazilian wild card is taking full advantage of his luck – he was handed a second-round place when Carlos Alcaraz retired with an ankle injury – to defeat his countryman, also a wildcard, Felipe Meligeni Alves 7-5 6-3.
Finally, in an all-Argentine battle, Francisco Cerundolo, seeded 4, dispatched Spain’s Albert Ramos Vinolas 6-2 6-1 and Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic, took out the compatriot, the eighth seeded Laso Djere, 6-2 7-5.
seeded 8,
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