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Cameron Norrie earned the most important success of his career by rallying from a set down to defeat world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the early stage of the prestigious indoor tournament.

Even though he had previously overcome Alcaraz on two occasions, this victory represents Norrie's initial success over a sitting world number one.

"Enormous. Extremely important for me," said Norrie, who becomes the latest British man in history to defeat a top-ranked player. "Returning from health issues last year, I fell in the first round of qualifying rounds here. I just sought to enjoy my performance in the latter part of the year. To get a triumph like this, it's the greatest success of my professional life, my initial victory over the top player and likely the most in-form athlete in the sport right now."

The British player, ranked No 31, also halted Alcaraz's dominant sequence of nine straight final appearances and 17 successive premier event successes, which represented the finest stretch of results in the Spanish star's developing professional path.

Game Analysis

The top seed seemed to be advancing smoothly to a win early on as he eased past the initial stanza. Nevertheless, Norrie steadily fought his way back into the game by delivering with improved accuracy and engaging the Spanish opponent into prolonged, demanding exchanges. His unceasing shot tolerance and reliability slowly left its mark.

During large parts of the battle, the world number one delivered strong serves but he struggled badly to find his timing on his baseline shots. The young star appeared particularly struggling executing his forehand, which has been the top weapon in the game for much of this year, haemorrhaging 29 forehand unforced errors and a overall of 54 mistakes. On the other side, the British player gave his opponent minimal unforced errors, keeping up his consistency, athleticism and penetration all match while serving efficiently and picking his spots to force himself into the court and attack well.

Decisive Phase

In the tight final games, Norrie expertly kept his nerve to defeat the world's finest in the sport.

Career Context

Following battling for an extended period due to a major arm issue and challenges with his form, the tennis professional slipped as low as 91st globally this year. After making the quarter-finals at the grass-court major and the clay-court Grand Slam second week since then, this triumph further underlines the veteran's progress as he attempts to make his way to the world's top twenty and even higher. Alcaraz, in spite of his incredible success, is has not yet master how to produce his top form indoors.