Indian Wells: Britain's Cameron Norrie beats Andrey Rublev to reach quarter-finals
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Cameron Norrie has also beaten Wu Tung-lin and Taro Daniel at Indian Wells
British number one Cameron Norrie reached the Indian Wells quarter-finals with a straight-set victory over Russian Andrey Rublev.
Norrie had issues with his serve early on but converted all five break points to claim a 6-2, 6-4 win in California.
The first British man to win this title, in 2021, faces world number 16 Frances Tiafoe in the last eight.
"Andrey is not an easy guy to beat, so I was really pleased to come through in straight sets," said the 27-year-old.
"Off the ground I was rock solid. It was a little cooler today so I felt like I had more time on the ball. I played well in the big moments."
The last time the pair faced one another was in the last 16 of the 2022 US Open where it was Rublev who won in straight sets.
On Tuesday, 10th seed Norrie started brightly, breaking his opponent in the first game. But serve issues led to a double fault which gave Rublev a break point to level at 1-1.
The 25-year-old Russian was shouting and hitting himself with his racket through frustration every time he made an error early on, and Norrie took advantage, breaking straight back to lead 2-1.
The Briton then broke Rublev's serve for a third time, taking the first set 6-2.
"It gave me a lot of confidence to see that down the other end," Norrie told BBC Sport. "I played a solid first game to break and he was not happy and I was like 'it could be my day today'.
"I'm feeling the ball well, and I think maybe he was upset about the conditions. It was a little bit overcast today and a bit colder so it was really tough to finish points."
Norrie's dominance continued as he broke Rublev in the third game of the second set, to lead 2-1, and then again to make it 5-2.
World number seven Rublev saved a match point in the next game, fighting back to break Norrie, but the result was inevitable as the world number 12 held his nerve to take the second set 6-4.
It secured an eighth victory on the trot for Norrie, who won the Rio Open two weeks ago, as well as a spot in the quarter-finals for the third consecutive time at Indian Wells.
Elsewhere, Daniil Medvedev overcame German Alexander Zverev in an epic three-set match, with the Russian winning 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals.
Medvedev will face Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the last eight.