British No 1 Cameron Norrie dispelled damage worries to ease into the second spherical of the Australian Open, whereas Jack Draper vomited right into a courtside bin after overcoming the Melbourne warmth to win his first five-set match.
Norrie pulled out of the ASB Basic in Auckland, the town the place he grew up, final week forward of his quarter-final due to a left wrist downside.
Norrie admitted he was involved with so little time to get well however there have been no causes for alarm in a 6-4 6-4 6-2 victory over Peru’s Juan Pablo Varillas as he grew to become the primary British winner of the fortnight.
Norrie will tackle Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri within the second spherical on Thursday
“I was lucky enough to be able to manage the practice and give myself the best chance to be ready to compete and was able to still do a lot of movement and a lot of fitness before, so it was good,” mentioned Norrie.
It was a sort draw for Norrie, though 81st-ranked Varillas did push Alexander Zverev to 5 units within the first spherical right here final 12 months earlier than occurring to make the fourth spherical of the French Open.
Norrie seemed a bit tentative to start out with however settled right into a rhythm of prolonged baseline rallies and eventually took his sixth alternative to interrupt serve within the fifth recreation.
The nineteenth seed took full management of the competition within the second set, discovering extra penetration on his groundstrokes and opening up a 5-1 lead.
Varillas fought again with three video games in a row however Norrie served it out on the second time of asking and was untroubled within the third to arrange a gathering with world No 133 Giulio Zeppieri.
Norrie is cautious of the Italian qualifier, saying: “I actually played him once in Rome and he beat me last time there. Young, talented player. Lefty. I watched the end of his match. He played really well. He competes really well. Kind of plays a little bit similar to me.
“It is undoubtedly going to be a tricky match. In search of some revenge from final time, as a result of he beat me actually simply final time.”
Jack Draper vomited right into a courtside bin after overcoming struggles with the Melbourne warmth to defeat Marcos Giron
Fellow Brit Draper overcame struggles with the Melbourne warmth to defeat Marcos Giron in his first five-set match.
It’s a measure of how inexperienced the 22-year-old nonetheless is on the highest degree that he had by no means beforehand performed a match that went the gap, and he seemed in deep trouble at two units to at least one down towards American Giron.
However Draper has been working arduous on his bodily conditioning and it paid off as he fought again to win 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-0 6-2 after three hours and 20 minutes.
As quickly as he had shaken fingers with Giron after a remaining gruelling rally, he ran to the bin to be sick and it was a number of minutes earlier than he was capable of stroll off the courtroom.
Fellow Britons Dan Evans, Katie Boulter and Emma Raducanu play afterward Tuesday.
Norwegian eleventh seed Casper Ruud fired off 42 winners as he eased previous Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-1 6-3 6-1 in simply over two hours.
However Ruud’s preparations for his second-round match should wait till he has nailed down the decor of his new residence.
“I actually have a Zoom call with an interior architect tonight. I’m going to have to prepare for that and think about other things,” Ruud mentioned. “Fabric, colour, mixing, blah blah blah. It’s a bit different than tennis.”
Brisbane champion Grigor Dimitrov improved to 6-0 in 2024 with a comeback 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-1) 6-2 win towards Marton Fucsovics.
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