No surprises

Form held in the quarter-finals, and another big clash on the horizon!

Norrie has just won another match in three sets against a Frenchman—it’s been the case since his first round—and despite the sluggish scorelines, you can’t say he’s playing badly; quite the opposite. I think he’s serving very well, he’s disciplined, and he’s taking his chances. Add his usual baseline solidity to that and it brings back memories of his prime. We’re not there yet, but I have to say he looks strong and once again comfortable physically, which was rare throughout the year. There’s still a certain pattern repeating itself: when he’s put under heavy pressure and can’t set up his game, it immediately gets trickier, even if he finds a way through. So same again tomorrow? Against Sonego he’ll likely be on the back foot on return and try to dictate behind his serve—classic. The Italian is aggressive with his forehand, comfortable moving forward, and in form; I really like what he’s shown this week. His semifinal was high-level and he was clinical to avoid dropping a set—very strong as well. Which doesn’t help me at all; I can’t say one looks more fragile than the other, just that personally I see Sonego as a touch better, but it’s marginal. That said, Norrie leads the H2H 2/1, a three-set match this season and a win at IW—nothing extreme, and as I said, at their best it’s super tight and hard-fought. A nice big, interesting semifinal that I’m into—let’s go check the odds.