Cam Norrie has been knocked out of the Australian Open after losing the longest match of his career against No 6 seed Alexander Zverev that was disrupted by a protestor at one stage.
The likes of Andy Murray, Emma Raducanu, Katie Boulter, Jack Draper and Dan Evans all suffered early exits from the Australian Open to leave Norrie as the sole representative from the third round and beyond.
The No 19 seed pulled off an impressive victory over Casper Ruud to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open for the first time in his career.
That set up a tough test against Zverev with the pair of them putting on a show inside Margaret Court Arena.
Cam Norrie has been knocked out of the Australian Open
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Zverev held the advantage early on as he took a 2-1 lead with play disrupted midway through the third set by a protestor.
But Norrie battled back in the fourth to force a deciding set with a championship tiebreak needed to separate them.
The 28-year-old was guilty of making too many errors in the decisive breaker though with Zverev taking full advantage to win the match and progress to the quarter-finals.
It's the third time Zverev has made the quarter-finals of the Australian Open with his best run coming in 2020 when he made it to the semi-finals.
But the German tennis ace faces a tricky task to repeat that feat this year as he faces Carlos Alcaraz in the next round.
Both Zverev and Norrie were forced to stop their match in the third set when a woman ran down to the edge of the stands and began shouting "free palestine".
She then chucked a bunch of leaflets onto the court with reference to the Israel-Hamas war.
Security wasn't able to react in time to stop the protestor with members of the crowd stepping in to stop the woman.
A protestor disrupted the match
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They eventually dragged the protestor out of the arena with the ball kids clearing up the pieces of paper from the court.
Play resumed soon after with Zverev wrapping up the all important third set.
Despite the loss, Norrie is set to return to the world top 20 in rankings with his career-best run at the Australian Open.
The South African-born tennis star suffered a dip in form last year after a strong start to the campaign.
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Cam Norrie enjoyed a career-best run at the Australian Open
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Speaking last month, Norrie suggested that his plan for 2024 is to be more selective about the tournaments he plays in.
“Honestly, the way I was hitting the ball was the best of my career so far, but there is a lot of learning to do,” Norrie said.
“The last three years, I think I have played more matches than anyone on the whole tour.
"There were a lot of matches and a lot of travelling, which I love. But getting a bit more experience and a little older, I’m going to look at the schedule a little closer. Maybe have one or two weeks off.”
