Norrie's End Of Year Surge Continues At Moselle

Having slipped to 57th place in the world tennis rankings with poor form, a lack of rhythm and consistency issues in the 2024 calendar, it is beginning to look like British Number 2, Cameron Norrie, may be back on an upward curve once again now he has fully regained his fitness after a long lay off over the summer with injury.

The 29 year old picked up a forearm issue nearly four months ago and he missed out on competing at several tournaments during the summer (the Olympics and US Open included), but after returning to action last month he recently picked up his first tour win since the battle against Jozef Kovalik in the first round of the Swedish Open.

Having come from behind at the Moselle Open in Metz in a clash with Roberto Carballes Baena, a rollercoaster match saw him come out with a 3-6 6-4 6-4 victory over the Spaniard to set up a second round tie with Luca Van Assche and his form continued when he returned to the court. He picked up back to back main ATP wins for the first time since July's Wimbledon tournament in a 6-3 2-6 6-1 win over the Frenchman and it also meant his first ATP Tour quarter final involvement since last April. For those tennis fans who have a bet365 bonus code Canada available to them, it probably would not have been used predicting that the South African born player would put in performances like this.

With Belgium's Zizou Bergs up next, many wondered if his luck would run out, and had it he could have still considered it a good end to the year given his injury and form problems. However, his journey continues into the weekend as he moved into the last four of the competition with a 6-3 6-7 (6-8) 6-1 over his 25 year old opponent to book his place in the semi finals and ensure that he ends the year on even a bigger high.

The former world Number eight could well have made the game easier for himself and won over the course of two sets had he managed to capitalise on the two match points he had in the second set tie break, but he recovered and returned to a more dominating style to seize the advantage, and momentum, in the deciding final set against his 61st ranked opposition.

Norrie admitted himself that he was ultimately second best at the tie break point, and Bergs was quicker than him and more confident in taking risks to get back into the game, but he took confidence from how he had managed to rest after that blow, compose himself once again and then go back out there playing far better tennis.

In securing his semi final spot for Friday's match with Frenchman Corentin Moutet, it means three straight wins on the spin which would naturally be another boost for the Brit, and he will now undoubtedly be seriously thinking about potentially lifting what would be his first ATP trophy of the year.

Given the struggles that he has had this term though, he will not be letting himself get too carried away as he makes his preparations for the 66th ranked player. Moutet advanced when Russian top seed Andrey Rublev withdrew after securing his own place at the end of season ATP Finals next week, but many expect that it will be an entertaining and closely fought battle as they both search for a place in the final.