Cameron Norrie says he has to 'clean up a lot of errors' after beating Luca Nardi in the Italian Open first round
ByEurosport
Updated 10/05/2022 at 14:41 GMT
Cameron Norrie overcame world No. 198 Luca Nardi in straight sets, but he was made to work hard against the 18-year-old Italian wild card. Norrie admitted after the match that he was feeling nervous before the first round match and feels he was making too many errors when returning Nardi's second serves. Norrie will play Marin Cilic in the second round.
Cameron Norrie admits he has to "clean up a lot of errors" after a 6-4 6-4 win over Italian wild card Luca Nardi in the Italian Open first round.
Norrie won 87 per cent of his points on his first serve but also faced two break points in his opening service game. The Brit also went 15-40 down when serving for the first set before recovering to take it.
Norrie grew into a rhythm despite the partisan crowd and broke in the first game of the second set before seeing out a less comfortable win than hoped.
The world No. 11, who went out of the Madrid Open in the third round last week to Carlos Alcaraz, admitted he was "very, very nervous" before taking on Nardi.
"I came out very, very nervous and very tight for whatever reason," the ninth seed told Amazon Prime.
"I was just missing a lot of second-serve returns and not playing as aggressive as I would like.
"My serve was decent in the bigger moments and he is a good player, a pretty flashy player, but when I was in control of the point he was winning a lot of the points.
"I need to clean up a lot of errors, but I was pleased how I turned it around after that start though."
He added: "I tried to scout the guy - watching his matches in the Challengers [Challenger Tour] it's difficult. With the crowd getting behind him it helps him as well.
"A little bit of first round match nerves. I just need to clean up a few errors."
Norrie will face Marin Cilic in the second round, a player the Brit has played once before and beat 7-6(6) 7-5 in Estoril, Portugal.
The 26-year-old says he will have to be patient against the Croatian.
The Biritsh number one added: "He's a difficult player to play, not much rhythm, he's basically got a really good first serve.
"But if I can be the one dictating the play and moving him around it will be a good match and I will have to wait a little bit on returns.
"He takes something like 27 ball bounces before each serve so I'm going to have to be patient on that and just embrace it."
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