At the Italian Open in Rome, British No. 1 Cameron Norrie easily defeated Hungarian Marton Fucsovics in straight sets to set up a matchup with Novak Djokovic in the fourth round.
On Sunday, Norrie defeated Fucsovics 6-2 7-6 (7-4) as Djokovic began his championship defence against the 26th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria with a tenacious 6-3 4-6 6-1 triumph.
Prior to being pushed back by Fucsovics, who is rated 92nd in the world, Norrie had one set and was up 5-1 in the second. On his route to tying the match at 5-5, he twice broke Norrie and saved five match points, including four on his own serve.
Despite dropping the first two points and falling behind 3-1, Norrie, the 13th seed, battled back to win in a tie-break. Before winning on his seventh match point, the 27-year-old British player racked up the following five points.
To defeat Dimitrov, Djokovic overcame a slow start.
Djokovic, who will hand Carlos Alcaraz the world No. 1 ranking at the conclusion of the competition, overcame a slow start and Dimitrov’s late comeback effort to secure a spot in the round of 16.
Early in the opening set, both players gave up serving until Djokovic improved his performance and pulled away for a 4-1 advantage. His 11th victory against Dimitrov in 12 career meetings started to appear likely.
Despite producing a stronghold, Dimitrov, who has only defeated the Serbian world No. 1 once in their history, was unable to stop his opponent from winning the first set and taking the lead in the second.
The former world No. 3 did, however, go on a four-game winning streak after falling down 2-4 to win the second set and force a decider. But after obtaining a double break in the third set, Djokovic fiercely fought back, shouted, and held on to win.
Daniil Medvedev defeated Emil Ruusuvuori 6-4, 6-2 to record his first career victory in Rome. In each of the Russian’s first three tournament outings, he had lost his first match.
Holger Rune also defeated Fabio Fognini 6-4, 6-2, while Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Nuno Borges 6-3, 6-3, in the second round of a match that had been postponed on Saturday owing to rain.
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