The two have met once before, in the second round of the China Open in 2019 when Andy won 7-6(8-6), 6-7(4-7), 6-1. Norrie's ranking then was No. 69, which meant he had to qualify for the tournament - at the end of 2021 it was No. 12, Norrie having in the process distinguished himself as being the only British player to win Indian Wells.
26 year old Norrie has won 38 out of 56 matches so far this season. He won the Delray Beach Open and the Lyon Open by beating Reilly Opelka and Alex Molcan respectively in the final. In Acapulco he reached his 9th ATP final, beating Daniel Altmaier, John Isner, Peter Gojowczyk and Stefanos Tsitsipas before going out in straight sets to Nadal. At Wimbledon he reached his maiden Grand Slam semi-final where he was defeated by Djokovic in four. His next tournament was the Los Cabos Open where, as defending champion, he again reached the final but lost in straight sets to Daniil Medvedev. He then reached the last 16 of the Canadian Open before losing 3-6, 4-6 to an on fire Felix Auger-Aliassime. In his opener here he struggled a bit with form against Danish teen sensation Holger Rune, eventually battling through 7-6(7-5), 4-6, 6-4.
Commenting on this match, Andy said: "He is very different to how Stan plays, being a lefty. He hits flat on the backhand, heavy topspin on the forehand. We have spent quite a bit of time on the practice courts in London together, so there won't be many surprises out there for either of us."

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