Vienna | Norrie and Evans complete double in Austria

he top two Brits advanced into the second round of the Erste Ban Open in Vienna with Cameron Norrie having to recover from a set down while Dan Evans in comparison, waltzed through comfortably.

British number one Norrie saw off Argentinian Pedro Cachin 3-6 6-2 7-6(1) but Evans, the British No.2, defeated Lucky Loser Oscar Otte of Germany, 6-4 7-6(3).

Seventh seed Norrie is still in the running to qualify for the end-of-season ATP Finals in Turin next month but needs to go deep into the Vienna event to keep his chances of qualification alive.

Currently ranked 13, Norrie, who was kept on court for over two hours, will next face Netherlands’ Tallon Griekspoor or American Marcos Giron in the last 16 while Evans will play Muscovite Karen Khachanov, a 7-6(4) 7-5 winner over American qualifier JJ Wolf.

Cachin, 42 places behind Norrie in the world rankings, recorded 19 aces to Norrie’s seven but the Argentine’s resilience faded as they entered the deciding tiebreak where the Wimbledon semi-finalist prevailed.

Norrie saved a break point in the fourth game of the match as the set remained on serve until the eighth game when Cachin broke the Briton’s serve for the first time and go on to seal the opening set with his fifth ace.

Norrie opened the second set with a fine overhead to win the first game and he started to chip away at his opponent’s confidence, fending off three break points to win game three before breaking Cachin’s serve for the first time.

The Argentinian clawed back a game but the momentum had shifted with Norrie collecting the next two games to force a decider which proved a battle with the second round at stake.

The pair battled their way to a tie-break where Norrie quickly established a 5-1 lead wrapping it all up two points later.

Austrian Dominic Thiem was also forced into a three setter but in front of a home crowd, eventually gave them the victory they wanted.

The former World No. 3 and US Open champion saved two match points en route to a hard-fought 2-6 7-6(2) 7-6(6) win against American Tommy Paul.

In front of a packed partisan crowd, Thiem recovered from a slow start as he grew in confidence and held his nerve saving two match points at 4-6 and 5-6 in the third-set tie-break to eventually triumph after two hours and 58-minutes.

The 29-year-old Thiem is making his 11th appearance in Vienna, which he won in 2019 and will face the top seed Daniil Medvedev or Nikoloz Basilashvili in the second round.

Thiem arrives in Vienna in strong form, having advanced to consecutive tour-level semi-finals in Gijon and Antwerp earlier this month and is currently ranked at No. 107 following his win against Paul.

In other action Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz took out America’s Frances Tiafoe7-6(4) 3-6 6-3 and will next face the Finn Emil Ruusuvuori in the second round.