The second-placed British Cameron Norrie is no longer the Cincinnati Open after losing veteran Roberto Bautista Agut in the second round.
Norrie recently beat the world No. 53 at Wimbledon, and his first-round victory sparked the All England Club quarterfinals.
As Ohio’s 32nd seed, Norrie had first-round goodbye before meeting the 37-year-old Spaniard, but as the temperature rose by 30c, he seemed to struggle on his way to a 6-4 6-3 defeat.
Norrie’s last outing was at the Canadian Open, and in the second round he was beaten by Aleksandar Vukic, the Global 99.
He continued to work on the U.S. open preparations in Cincinnati and Bautista Agut, excelling in three long games while breaking Norrie in Game 4.
Norrie was clearly soaked in sweat while serving in the second half of 5-2 and changed her shirt before putting on two fixing points.
The 29-year-old then started with his sixth breakout point, causing a double breakdown in the following game, allowing Bautista Agut to win the first set.
Norrie was on the second time, but remained competitive and saved five games despite three double failures to lower his deficit to 5-3.
But Bautista Agut is only his second game since Wimbledon, who has no doubt about the next second game.
It was Norrie’s second straight game to fall into the first obstacle after Montreal, losing three of his five games since his game at SW19 was stopped by world No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz.
The sixth seed, Alex de Minaur, was also abandoned on Sunday, with the Australian losing 7-6 (8-6) to American Reilly Opelka 6-4.
