British number one Cameron Norrie battled his way past Hungary's Marton Fucsovics to advance to the quarter-finals of the Barcelona Open after a three-set thriller.
Norrie was pushed all the way by fourth seed Fucsovics but ultimately managed to claim a 7-5 6-7 [9-11], 6-4 win over his counterpart in a tightly-fought last-16 clash.
The Brit failed to take two opportunities to break Fucsovics early on but eventually did so after a mammoth 10th game in which neither player could get over the line - levelling at 5-5 after his fortunate shot hit the net and trickled over to the Hungarian's side.
Fucsovics could not serve to stay in the first set and ceded a 1-0 lead to Norrie after hitting long, and the Brit earned a crucial break to level at 5-5 in the second set when Fucsovics had the opportunity to serve to level the match.
Norrie did not have the answer to a brilliant Fucsovics backhand in the tie-break as the Hungarian brought it back to 1-1, but Norrie nevertheless found his groove in the third set to advance.
The 26-year-old will now face off against Australia's Alex de Minaur for a spot in the semi-finals, where either Stefanos Tsitsipas or his Indian Wells conqueror Carlos Alcaraz could await him.
Ben Knapton
