Norrie Opens Grass Season With Win At Queen's Club

Cameron Norrie is up and running on grass in 2023.

The Briton began his Cinch Championships campaign with a dominant performance on Monday, moving past Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic 6-4, 7-6(5) to reach the second round in London.

Norrie was competing in his first match on the surface last July, when he lost against Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon semi-finals. The fifth seed took little time to adjust, though, causing Kecmanovic problems with his flat groundstrokes.

The 27-year-old moved freely in front of a packed home crowd and sealed his 30th tour-level win of the season on his fifth match point, advancing after 85 minutes. Norrie will next face Australian Jordan Thompson or Canadian Milos Raonic, who returned to the Tour in Stuttgart last week.

Norrie has fond memories of playing at The Queen’s Club, having advanced to the championship match in 2021.

In other first-round action, British wild card Ryan Peniston defeated Ugo Humbert 6-4, 6-2. Peniston advanced to the quarter-finals at the ATP 500 event, with all five of his tour-level wins prior to Monday coming during the 2022 grass-court season. The 27-year-old next meets second seed Holger Rune or American Maxime Cressy.