ASB Classic: Cameron Norrie beats Jiri Lehecka in match that took six hours to complete

Local favourite Cameron Norrie moved into the quarterfinals of the ASB Classic after defeating Jiri Lehecka 6-4 6-7 6-3 in yet another rain interrupted match that had to be moved indoors.

The match started outdoors at 1.15pm, but didn’t finish until 7.05pm, behind closed doors because of rain delays, with the poor weather making the men’s tournament just as infuriating as the women’s week.

This is day 10 of the fortnight of tennis in Auckland and there is still to be a day that hasn’t been impacted by rain to some degree,

In between the times when spectators were sitting around bored, talking about why there isn’t a roof, there was some excellent tennis played by Norrie and Lehecka.

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“It wasn’t an easy day and Jiri is a great up and coming player and he loves these quick conditions,” said a relieved Norrie afterwards.

“I felt Centre Court was very fast and it really suited his game well, so I had to play well and I obviously the start of the season pretty decently.

“I want to come back to where I grew up and play well in front of everyone. It just wasn’t an easy day to do that, with the wind, the rain, the stop, the start and it’s nice to be through and nice to get it done. Hopefully I can get some rest now.”

While Lehecka may not be a household name in New Zealand, he came to Auckland with some pedigree.

He lost in the final of the ATP Next Gen Finals to Brandon Nakashima from the USA in November and last week beat Alexander Zverev in the United Cup.

Rain stopped play briefly with Norrie serving at 3-4 and 30-0 in the first set after there had been a break of serve to each player.

However, Norrie was able to grab that first set when play resumed.

Lehecka had a couple of set points when Norrie was serving at 5-6 in the next set, but the Brit was able to safe both of them.

However, the young Czech had two more set points in the tiebreaker and with the first of them nailed a low crosscourt backhand to make it one set all.

They were off for rain for 40 minutes before the deciding set could begin and Norrie got a break in the second game.

Frustratingly, there was another shower when Lehecka was serving at 0-3 and eventually the call was made to move indoors.

There was no messing around from Norrie once they were inside, as he held serve convincingly each time to win the match.

“It’s a tough decision, especially as I’d been waiting around all day, five or six hours and I was up early,” Norrie said of moving indoors.

“At that point I just wanted to get it done. I think I was fortunate to be up a break and we came in here and it’s so quick in here.

“I back myself to get a couple of holds and I did that and executed what I needed to. It was like 10 minutes in here, so a quick third set.”