Cameron Norrie admitted to experiencing pre-match nerves after fighting his way into the last 16 of the Delray Beach Open with a 7-5 6-4 win over American qualifier Zachary Svajda.
Norrie, who won the Florida tournament in 2022, has struggled on hard courts so far this season but emerged from a torrid opening to seal a welcome win in temperatures approaching 30 degrees.
The British No 2 split four breaks of serve in the first six games with his opponent, but grabbed a further break in the 12th game to take the set.
Svajda recovered an early break in the second to threaten to take Norrie into a third-set decider, but the British player hit back to set up a last-16 clash with either Gabriel Diallo or French ninth seed Arthur Rinderknech.
“I’m very satisfied,” said Norrie in his on-court interview after the match.
“It’s very uncomfortable out here. The Florida heat is getting to me a little bit.
“My first match outdoors in a while and I was pretty nervous coming in. I was not moving my feet that well but I was really happy with how I finished both the sets playing my best level, and that’s what counted.
“I was not playing great and Zach made it difficult. He doesn’t give you much energy so it was tough to push but I was happy with how I finished the match, most importantly.”
Norrie played the clay-court tournaments of Buenos Aires and Rio after the Australian Open before Indian Wells in both 2023 and 2024 but this time has already played Dallas – where he lost in the second round last week to Reilly Opelka after squandering a one-set advantage – before arriving on Florida’s east coast.
“I’m skipping the clay this year, I was grinding out there in South America so I was hoping it was going to be slightly easier conditions here, but it wasn’t. I’m sweating just as much as I would in South America!” he said.
“But nice to be on the hard courts and happy to get the win in a tough match.
“I think it’s important to get wins like this where you’re very nervous and you’re really uncomfortable, so very happy to get a win like that. Not really feeling my best and not really practising well since I got here so I can take a lot of confidence from that.
“Relax [on Tuesday], hopefully enjoy the beach a little bit and get ready for my match on Wednesday.”
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