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Cameron Norrie’s return to action ended in defeat as he was beaten by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the first round of the HSBC Championship at Queen’s on Tuesday evening.
Having had to retire from the first round at Roland Garros last month due to a rib injury, the British number one was back on the court at the west London club, but despite making a positive start on the Andy Murray Arena against the world number 22, Spain’s Davidovich Fokina stood strong and overcame the Brit to win 7-6(6), 6-2.
A previous finalist at the HSBC Championship, Norrie earned an early break, but his opponent responded straight away to level the games once again before the Spaniard went on to win the first-set tie-break.
That looked to have taken a lot of energy out of Norrie as the Brit was broken twice to suffer a straight-set defeat on home soil.
Earlier in the day at Queen’s, on court one, Arthur Fery took the bragging rights in an all-British affair after beating good friend Toby Samuel 6-0, 6-2.
It was a clinical display against his compatriot, winning 78% of his service points (31/40) and he made sure to capitalise on opportunities during the match, converting five of 15 break points.
However, no matter what the result for either player, it had already been a memorable day for the British pair as they both received main draw wildcards for Wimbledon at the end of this month.
“I heard about it (the wildcard) this morning,” Fery said on court following his win. “It’s great news – I’m really appreciative of the All England Club and the LTA for all the support. I’m really looking forward to playing Wimbledon again in the next few weeks, it’s going to be great.”
Fery will now face Adrian Mannarino in the second round of the ATP 500 event on home soil after the Frenchman put in an impressive performance to defeat third seed Jakub Mensik.
