The Telegraph Two of the surprise packages of this clay-court season have been British – initially Dan Evans, who made a deep run in Monte Carlo, and more lately Cameron Norrie, who played his second final in three weeks on Sunday. Unfortunately, Norrie wasn’t able to land a maiden ATP title in Lyon. But then he was up against Stefanos Tsitsipas, who has been the dominant force of 2021 outside the slams, and now stands at No 1 in the table of most rankings points gained since January 1. Nevertheless, it had been a hugely creditable effort for Norrie to go this far, especially when you consider that he took out top seed Dominic Thiem on Thursday, and then trounced big-hitting Russian Karen Khachanov in Saturday’s semi-final, losing only two games in the process. Norrie has come to clay late in his career, but it feels like this is developing into his favourite surface. He has one of the heaviest left-handed forehands in the game, loaded with top-spin, and uses it like a miniature version of Rafael Nadal. The result has been a tally of 14 wins and only four losses since he began his European clay-court swing in Barcelona. So while the French Open, which starts next Sunday, has traditionally been a graveyard of British hopes, there are reasons to hope that this year’s event could deliver some more positive results. Norrie’s previous final in Estoril had been a nervewracking affair which he eventually lost on a deciding-set tie-break to the more experienced Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Sunday was more straightforward for Tsitsipas, who needed only 69 minutes to hammer home a 6-3, 6-3 victory. It was Tsitsipas’ second title of the clay-court sequence, after he won Monte Carlo in mid-April, taking out Evans in the semi-final along the way. He has become a serious contender to upset the establishment – specifically Nadal and Novak Djokovic – at Roland Garros over the next few weeks. “I felt in good shape from the beginning of the tournament,” said Tsitsipas afterwards. “I am proud of today’s match, I knew it would be a difficult one against Cameron, who has been showing great tennis this week. He has been winning against good players and showing what the left hand can do on clay. “It was not an easy match today. I had to handle the nerves and I am proud of my performance and the way I stayed focused towards my goal.” On this year’s results, meanwhile, both Evans and Norrie stand among the world’s 20 most successful men. Evans is at No 16 and Norrie No 14. The next challenge for them both is to convert that ATP Tour form into a deep run at a major.<doc-sep>Playing against each other for the first time since 2013, Belinda Bencic took down the world no. 1 and reigning Indian Wells champion Naomi Osaka 6-3, 6-1 in just 66 minutes to extend her winning streak. The Swiss headed to Indian Wells as one of the seeds after winning her biggest title since Toronto 2015 in Dubai, delivering fury from serve to leave the Japanese far behind and march into the quarters. Osaka managed to create two break points and she grabbed one break, needing much more than that to stay competitive after dropping more than 50% of the points in her games, playing with no rhythm or with the idea how to impose her strokes. Belinda controlled the match from start to finish, hitting from the comfort zone and moving Naomi around the court to force errors and awkward shots from her coeval and the winner of the previous two Grand Slam titles. There were worrying signs for Osaka right from the start, netting a backhand to drop serve in the opening game and spraying a forehand error in game five to find herself 4-1 down. The Swiss double faulted at 5-2 to give one break of serve away but she blasted a backhand down the line return winner a few minutes later for a 6-3 and a massive momentum before the start of the decider. There, she saved a break point in the opening game and forced an error from Osaka to grab an early break for a 2-0 lead, dropping just three points in the remaining service games and extending the advantage to 5-1 when Naomi placed a forehand beyond the baseline in game six. Serving for another impressive win throughout the last couple of weeks, Bencic landed a volley winner in the seventh game for a 6-1 and the commanding victory that puts her in the title chase if she maintains this level. In the last match of Tuesday's program, the 8th seed Angelique Kerber took down Aryna Sabalenka 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in an hour and 43 minutes, beating the Belarusian in their first encounter to grab the last quarter-final invitation. The German lost serve four times although that wasn't a problem in the end, stealing almost half of the return points to count to 17 break points, converting seven to move over the top. Angelique clinched the opener in 30 minutes with three straight breaks, opening a 2-0 advantage in set number two before Sabalenka started to play better, taking six out of the next eight games to reign on serve and break Kerber at 3-3 for a 6-4. Aryna was in a better and better position as the match progressed, opening a 4-1 lead in the decider with a double break before Kerber kicked off her streak, rattling off the last five games to steal the triumph, breaking Sabalenka three times in a row for a great escape and an important win.<doc-sep>The women's top-half played its round-of-32 matches on Monday. The world no. 1 and top-seed Naomi Osaka came through in her third-round match against Danielle Collins 6-4, 6-2 well in time before the rain hit and stopped play for the day. Next up for Osaka is the Dubai Open titlist and 23rd seed Belinda Bencic. The Swiss player defeated Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova by the same score-line as Osaka, in 66 minutes. The most differentiating statistic of the day between the two players came up in their second-serve points won. Bencic won around 48% of her second-serve points whereas Alexandrova could only manage 12%, which also helped further smoother Bencic's path to victory. This will be the only second time that Osaka and Bencic will play each other. Their first meeting took place over six years ago, in 2013, in an ITF $25,000 event in Pelham. Osaka who was a qualifier at that event won in straight sets against the Swiss player. Recalling that win, Osaka told reporters, "I remember I didn't eat that entire day. So I just went onto the court, and I just decided to hit everything, and luckily it went in, and I think that's how I won, to be honest." Then, with a touch of her trademark honesty, Osaka added, "She was just really, like, shocked, I think, because we were around the same age, but I didn't really play juniors, so nobody really knew who I was. She was, like, a really big Junior star. She still is a star. That's how I tell that story." In these intervening years, both players have faced their share of successes and tough luck. Incidentally, this will be a match between two players born in 1997, which has also added to the match-up's intrigue. Speaking to media after her third-round win, Bencic noted, "We try to push each other… I think we are all, like, different players, but still, I think the 1997 generation, it's so strong. And I think always one of us is doing well. Sometimes the success, like, everybody has their own timing. So sometimes it takes longer; sometimes it takes faster." Photo Credit: Bein Sports<doc-sep>
Osaka, who is the reigning U.S. and Australian Open champion, saw her first career title defence go down in flames at the hands of a razor-sharp Bencic, who won their fourth-round match 6-3 6-1. "I didn't play that well," Osaka said. "But honestly, I think at a time like this with that scoreline, I would usually feel very depressed and sad. "But I feel pretty good right now because I think, given the circumstances, I tried my best and I don't really have any regrets." Roland-Garros Nadal, Djokovic and Federer in same half of juicy French Open draw YESTERDAY AT 15:19 Osaka, 21, said she lacked maturity when as a relative unknown player she won the tournament last year to kick off her meteoric rise through the rankings. "One of the biggest things is I wanted to be more mature," she said when asked how she has changed in the past year. I feel like this is something I'm still working on, on and off the court. It's one of the biggest goals that I have had my entire life. "Because I might have thrown a few tantrums last year and this year it's something I'm working on improving and I feel like it's going well." The last year has been a whirlwind for the Japanese, who defeated her idol Serena Williams in the U.S. Open final in a match best remembered for the American's heated argument with the chair umpire as Osaka looked on. After winning the Australian Open, Osaka shocked the tennis world by parting ways with her coach Sascha Bajin. She lost in straight sets in her next match to Kristina Mladenovic at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, which left Osaka in tears. Belinda Bencic (SUI) reacts after defeating Naomi Osaka (JPN) in straight sets to advance to the next round of the BNP Paribas Openin a match played on March 12, 2019 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, CA. Image credit: Getty Images But there were no tears on Tuesday as Osaka said she was adjusting to being the world number one and always having a target on her back. "I feel like there is no anonymity," she said. "That was something that I used to my advantage maybe when I was like 18, 19. But I think now there is way too many videos and too many people have watched my matches." Despite the loss, Osaka is guaranteed to lead the rankings after the tournament since world number two Simona Halep also lost on Tuesday. Roland-Garros Osaka to skip press conferences at French Open YESTERDAY AT 07:22