Bidding to maintain his 100% record against his French opponent, Cameron Norrie pits his wits against Arthur Rinderknech in the Delray Beach Open second round on Wednesday.
Both competitors earned straight-sets victories in their opening ties, as the former British number one battled past American qualifier Zachary Svajda, while Rinderknech made light work of Dmitry Popko.
Match preview
© Imago
To describe Norrie's battle with 22-year-old Svajda as topsy-turvy would be an understatement; there were four breaks of serve between the pair in the opening six games of the first-round match, as the Florida heat threatened to get the better of the Briton.
However, after a critical break in the 11th game of the opening set, the former Wimbledon semi-finalist also brought his battling qualities to the fore in the penultimate game of the second, missing five break points before putting his sixth away as his American foe racked up the unforced errors.
A 7-5 6-4 triumph in one hour and 28 minutes propelled Norrie to just his second victory from his last six matches on the ATP Tour, having also overcome Alex Michelsen in his opening Dallas battle earlier this month before being slain by Reilly Opelka in round two.
The 29-year-old - absent from Great Britain's Davis Cup qualifying defeat to Japan owing to illness - is certainly a far cry from the player who took home the Delray Beach Open crown in 2022, but he is mixing up his approach for 2025, opting to skip the clay-court swing in favour of the hard surface.
Now at the two-year mark without a top-level title since overcoming Carlos Alcaraz in the final of the 2023 Rio Open, Norrie could repeat his recent Dallas trick against Michelsen in the quarter-finals at Delray Beach; the American faces fellow home favourite Michael Mmoh for a date with the Briton or Rinderknech.
© Imago
Originally due to open his Florida campaign against Gabriel Diallo, Rinderknech witnessed his Canadian foe withdraw shortly before their first-round battle, thus pitting the ninth seed against Kazakhstani lucky loser Popko instead.
Separated by 143 places in the ATP Tour rankings, the gulf in quality was apparent from the off, as Rinderknech ran into few difficulties during a straightforward 6-2 6-4 victory over the world number 208 in just one hour and 23 minutes.
Facing little pressure on his serve throughout, the Frenchman did not have to bat away a single break point and converted three of his seven chances to ease into the second round, avoiding a third-straight defeat in the process and picking up just his second success of 2025.
Rinderknech's only previous triumph of the season so far came in Montpellier - he suffered first-round defeats in Brisbane, Adelaide, Dallas and at the Australian Open - and the world number 65 is still chasing that elusive first title on the ATP Tour.
However, the 29-year-old has already been conquered by American foes twice in 2025 - losing to Frances Tiafoe in Melbourne and Taylor Fritz in Dallas - so superstition will not be on his side should he make his first quarter-final of the year on Wednesday.
Tournament so far
Cameron Norrie:
First round: vs. Zachary Svajda 7-5 6-4
Arthur Rinderknech:
First round: vs. Dmitry Popko 6-2 6-4
Head To Head
Davis Cup Finals (2021) - Round Robin: Norrie wins 6-2 7-6[8]
Lyon Open (2021) - Quarter-finals Norrie wins 6-3 3-6 6-3
Twice Norrie and Rinderknech have clashed at the top level, and twice Norrie has come up trumps, overcoming the 29-year-old in a pair of clashes during the 2021 season.
The duo's inaugural clash on the clay courts of Lyon saw the British leftie prevail in a three-set quarter-final, before GB and France collided in the Davis Cup Finals later that year.
On that occasion, the former Wimbledon semi-finalist got the job done in straight sets - albeit after a mammoth second-set tie-break - as GB defeated France 2-1 overall before losing to Germany in the quarter-finals.
We say: Rinderknech to win in three sets
Neither Norrie nor Rinderknech have been performing to the best of their ability in 2025, and the Briton conceded that the sweltering Floridian conditions were tough to manage during his battle with Svajda.
We cannot envisage any scenario where this battle does not go the distance, but a potentially fitter Rinderknech has our vote to end his Norrie hoodoo and deny the 29-year-old another shot at Delray Beach stardom.
Ben Knapton
