French Open 2018: Cameron Norrie hoping for heroic comeback as his second-round match goes to second day

Cameron Norrie will hope for a repeat of his Davis Cup heroics earlier this year when his second-round encounter with Lucas Pouille resumes here at the French Open on Thursday. Pouille, the host nation’s leading player, was leading the 22-year-old Briton 6-2, 6-4, 5-7 when play was called off for the day at 9.42pm on Wednesday because of bad light.

Norrie, who was given medication by the tournament doctor after feeling unwell in the second set, had started slowly, but played better and better as the match progressed.

While Norrie still has plenty to do if he is to make further progress on his French Open debut, he could take encouragement from his experience when he made his Davis Cup debut for Britain in February. Norrie recorded the best result of his career to date when he came back from two sets down in Marbella to beat Roberto Bautista Agut in front of the Spaniard’s home crowd.

As the world No 16, Pouille represents the host country’s best chance of success in the men’s singles here. The 24-year-old from the Pas-de-Calais region, who was briefly No 10 in the world rankings earlier this year, has five titles to his name and is one of an elite group of players who have won titles on hard courts, grass and clay.

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Like so many of the best French players, Pouille is a great stylist. While he lacks the physical power of some of the other top men, Pouille’s ball-striking is excellent, he has a fine touch and he builds his points intelligently.

This was only Norrie’s third appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament and his first experience of one of the sport’s great stages. He played on Court 2 in his only appearance at Wimbledon last summer, when he lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and on outside courts when he beat Dmitry Tursunov and then lost to Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open.

Court Philippe Chatrier was nevertheless less than half full when the Briton and the Frenchman started just before 8pm. For much of the day it had seemed unlikely that they would even make it on to court, but that changed thanks to a combination of an improving weather forecast and Caroline Wozniacki’s quickfire victory over Georgina Garcia Perez.

Norrie had been relishing the opportunity to take on Pouille in front of the Frenchman’s home crowd, but in truth the atmosphere in the stadium was subdued at the start.

Although he started confidently enough Norrie was soon on the back foot. Having gone 30-0 up in the opening game, the Briton went on to drop his serve when he netted a forehand.

Getting on the scoreboard by winning the third game should have helped his confidence, but Pouille broke again, this time to love, to go 4-1 up. The Frenchman played beautifully from the start, combining some bold ground strokes with some deft touches.

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At 5-1 it seemed that the first set might be over in double-quick time, but Norrie played his best game when he held to love for 5-2 and created a small opening for himself as Pouille went 15-30 down when serving for the set. The Frenchman kept his cool, however, and went on to convert his first set point with an exquisite drop shot after just 25 minutes.

Norrie was finding his feet, however, and made a much better start to the second set. He had his chances when Pouille served at 1-2 and 15-40, only for the Frenchman to serve his way out of trouble.

After saving one break point in the following game, Norrie was made to regret leaving a Pouille backhand which landed just inside the line when the Briton was on game point. Pouille won the next two points to break serve and then held to lead 4-2.

By now the home fans were finding their voice and chants of “Lucas! Lucas!” started to ring round the stadium. Trailing 4-3, Norrie sent for the trainer, who then called for the doctor. Norrie appeared to tell him that he was feeling unwell and suffering from stomach cramps and was given some medication.

Pouille went on to serve out for the set, converting his first set point with an ace. By now it was 9pm and Norrie was probably hoping that play might be called off for the day. Pouille, however, pointed out to the umpire that the sky was still clear, despite the impending threat of rain, and after Norrie had taken a toilet break play resumed.

Whether or not it was the medication starting to take effect, Norrie soon broke serve for the first time. Pouille, serving at 0-1, went 0-40 down and was broken when he netted an attempted drop shot.

Norrie, nevertheless, was unable to consolidate his advantage. It was the Briton’s turn to trail 0-40 in the following game and at 15-40 Pouille broke back with a smash.

Two games later the Frenchman broke again to lead 3-2, but Norrie refused to lie down. Once again Pouille went 0-40 down and on his second break point Norrie hit a backhand return winner.

The set then went with serve until Pouille served at 5-6. At 30-30 Norrie went to set point when Pouille netted a backhand under attack and on the next point the Frenchman missed a forehand. It was some comeback by Norrie and leaves the Briton with everything to play for on Thursday, with the winter to face Russia's Karen Khachanov in the third round.