PA Media/dpa
melbourne
Cameron Norrie survived a close first-set battle against teenager Luca Van Assche before pulling away to ease into the second round of the Australian Open on Monday.
The British number one, seeded 11, has become a master of winning these early grand-slam matches and so it proved once again, a run of 10 straight games helping him to a 7-6 (7-3), 6-0, 6-3 victory over a player ranked 143.
Norrie only arrived in Melbourne late on Saturday night after a heart-breaking loss to Richard Gasquet in the final of the ASB Classic in Auckland.
That gave him only one day to prepare for this match but he carried a lot of confidence from a run of six victories to start the season, including over Rafael Nadal, as well as his exploits of the last two campaigns.
A good run here could see Norrie return to the top 10 and he was his customary relentless self as he wore down 18-year-old Van Assche.
The Frenchman, who won the junior title at Roland Garros in 2021, is considered a big talent for the future and twice recovered from a break down in the opening set.
Norrie became a little wayward off his forehand but tightened things up in the tie-break and from there kept constant pressure on Van Assche, who will have learned a lot from the encounter but was not quite up to the task here.
