Norrie out but Evans through at Barcelona Open

Story By: BBC Sports

British number one Cameron Norrie is out of the Barcelona Open but Dan Evans progressed to the quarter-finals with an impressive win over Karen Khachanov.

Seventh seed Norrie controlled the first set of his last-16 match against Lorenzo Musetti but the Italian fought back to win 3-6 6-4 6-1.

British number two Evans broke serve once in each set to overcome Russian sixth seed Khachanov 6-3 6-4.

He will play third seed Casper Ruud or Argentine Francisco Cerundolo next.

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Evans, 32, has found form on clay after a run of six successive defeats since reaching the third round at the Australian Open in January.

He progressed to the semi-finals in Marrakech at the start of April and, despite losing in three sets in the Monte Carlo Masters last week, has followed up with a strong run in Barcelona.

After winning the first set, Norrie, 27, moved to 15-40 on Musetti’s serve at 4-4 in the second, but missed the break-point chances and had his own serve broken in the next game, before the 21-year-old Italian cruised through a one-sided decider.

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Musetti, the world number 20, has achieved his best career results on clay and beat Novak Djokovic in Monte Carlo last week on the way to the quarter-finals.

His run was ended by compatriot Jannik Sinner, who he will face again in the quarter-finals in Barcelona.

Sinner beat Japanese 16th seed Yoshihito Nishioka in three sets, while second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas eased past Canada’s Denis Shapovalov 6-3 6-2.

Spain’s world number two Carlos Alcaraz beat compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3 7-5.

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Meanwhile, at the Bavarian International in Munich, Alexander Zverev was beaten 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 by Australian world number 82 Christopher O’Connell.

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