Apparently the number 26 brings good luck to Indian Wells. Only four players ranked outside of the world’s Top 25 managed to win the title in the California desert. They were all … 26th at ATP. Among them Jim Courier (1991), Alex Corretja (2000), Ivan Ljubicic (2010) and Cameron Norrie, therefore. The 26 (!) Year-old Briton reinforced this strange coincidence by winning Sunday, after a disjointed final against Nikoloz Basilashvili (3-6, 6-4, 6-1).
Consistent and stainless in rallies since the start of the tournament, Norrie has first suffered the strikes of the Georgian. Until being led by a set and a break after a bad choice on the fly at the start of the second act. The table was not really good for the Briton who had the merit of not giving up despite the delay. Very quickly, he took over the service of Basilashvili whose tennis, from that moment, clearly withered away.
Norrie could invite himself to the Masters
Until the end of the second set, there was pretty much a match. And then the 36 world player has completely disappeared from the debates, chaining the gross errors (49 unforced errors in all on this match) including a huge one, while he was led 1-4, which offered a new break to Norrie. The latter did not ask for so much but took the opportunity to conclude even faster than expected (three sets played in 1:49).
Winner of his first Masters 1000 in a tournament where he had never won a match before this edition, Norrie will be ranked 16th in the world on Monday, the best ranking of his career. Thanks to his solid season before this brilliant coup (he was playing his sixth final of the year, for two titles), he could even invite himself to the Masters at the end of the season. For the moment, he is tenth in the Race.