Cameron Norrie withdraws from Madrid Open after loss to Zhizhen Zhang

Cameron Norrie withdrew from the Madrid Open despite not facing a single break point as China’s Zhizhen Zhang battled from a set down to advance to the fourth round.

The British number one, seeded 11th in the Spanish capital, appeared to be cruising as he won four games in a row to take the first set 6-2 and the second seemed to be following a similar pattern.

However, the lefty squandered five break chances and his opponent, ranked 99th in the world, struck back to record a 2-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(2) victory to set a clash with the eighth seed. Taylor Fritz.

After trailing 0-40 at 2-2 in the second set, Zhang won 27 straight serve points to establish some rhythm, and although she was unable to advance on the return, she kept her nerve going into tiebreaks.

Despite losing 2-1 in the second set tiebreaker, Zhang racked up six straight points to send the match to a decider, where neither player fell back on serve.

Another tiebreaker ensued and it was Zhang who hit the front lines this time, claiming victory in two hours and nine minutes to reach the last 16 of a Masters 1000 event for the first time.

While American Fritz defeated Cristian Garin of Chile 6-1, 7-6(4), second seed Daniil Medvedev came from a set down to clinch a 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 triumph over his compatriot. Russian Alexander Shevchenko.

Fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas also went the distance before the Greek earned a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Argentinian number 25 seed Sebastián Báez.