Norrie seals Metz SF berth with late surge, former champ Sonego wins
Cameron Norrie overcame a stern test from home hope Kyrian Jacquet at the Moselle Open on Thursday. A finalist last year in Metz, Norrie rallied past the lucky loser 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 to reach his second semi-final of the season.
The only seed remaining at the ATP 250, Norrie won the final 11 points of the two-hour, 25-minute match to advance.
“He surprised me a lot,” Norrie said of Jacquet, the third Frenchman whom the lefty has beaten this week. “He was mixing it up really well. A lot of slicing, then really aggressive at moments. His serve is really, really good.
“The French have so many good players, so many different kinds of players. I really liked the way he competed and he could have easily won the match in the second set as well, but I managed to stay tough.”
Jacquet crushed 48 winners, half of which came from his forehand, to Norrie’s 28, but the 30-year-old Briton found his best tennis when he needed it most to earn his place in the last four. He will next meet Lorenzo Sonego after the Italian beat Daniel Altmaier 6-4, 7-6(6). Sonego has fond memories in Metz, having clinched the crown in 2022.
Norrie is aiming for his sixth tour-level title and first since 2023 in Rio de Janeiro, where he beat Carlos Alcaraz in the final.
In other quarter-final action, #NextGenATP star Learner Tien rallied past Matteo Berrettini 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 in one hour and 44 minutes to advance to his second tour-level semi-final.
In his first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Berrettini, the 19-year-old converted all three break points he earned, according to Infosys ATP Stats. With the win, Tien became the youngest American man to record 30 victories in a season since Andy Roddick in 2002 and the fourth American to reach that mark this year. He is up four spots to No. 34 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings.
Tien will face lucky loser Vitaliy Sachko for a place in the final. Sachko defeated Clement Tabur 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to book his semi-final spot.
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