Etcheverry sees off Norrie to head into Barcelona Open semis

Argentinian Tomas Etcheverry booked his place in the semifinals of the Barcelona Open with a hard-fought straight sets win over Britain’s Cameron Norrie on Friday.

Etcheverry, ranked 30 in the world, one place higher Norrie, edged a tight match 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/1).

He will face either third seed Casper Ruud or the Italian Matteo Arnaldi, ranked 40 in the world, in the semifinals.

The first set produced a break each before the Argentine held the upper hand in the tiebreak.

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The second set went with serve all the way to the tiebreak which Etcheverry, a semifinalists in Houston at the start of the month, won comfortably.

“I spoke to my coach last night and also my team, that I have to play aggressively to win this match,” the 24-year-old Etcheverry said.

“The tie-break was key. I played really good in that part of the match.”

Norrie had won their only previous contest, also on clay, in Buenos Aires last year.