Cameron Norries battles past Matteo Arnaldi to progress in Paris
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Cameron Norrie sealed just his second ATP Tour win since August, beating Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi 6-4 1-6 6-3 to reach the second round at the Rolex Paris Masters.
Norrie halted a five-game losing streak at last week’s Erste Bank Open in Vienna, beating 19th seed Francisco Cerundolo in straight sets before squandering a match point against Daniil Medvedev in the round of 16.
The British number two was already a break up against world number 36 Arnaldi when he lost his serve in the fourth game of the opening set – he immediately broke back before serving out to win it 6-4 in 36 minutes.
Arnaldi came storming back in the second, breaking Norrie three times to level the match, but the Briton regrouped in the decider and won against the Italian’s serve to go 3-1 up and was not troubled further as he secured victory in one hour and 41 minutes.
Elsewhere, Katie Boulter battled into the second round of the Hong Kong Open with a straight-sets victory over Viktorija Golubic to make it four wins in five matches.
A run to the last four of the Japan Open last month ensured Boulter reclaimed the honour of British number one from Sonay Kartal and moved back into the WTA top-50.
Eighth seed Boulter had got the better of Golubic in Osaka two weeks ago and repeated the feat with a 6-2 7-6 (2) triumph in one hour and 47-minutes.
World number 49 Boulter was broken early on in Hong Kong, but hit back to win eight games in a row to take the first set and control of the second.
A superb passing winner at the net helped Boulter move 4-1 up before she squandered match point on Golubic’s serve and was then broken twice, but the 30-year-old held her nerve to force a tie-break and edged out her Swiss rival to reach the last-16.
PA
