The first step has been taken: Cameron Norrie is safely through to the second round to face Jaume Munar.

He beat Pablo Andujar – and the Wimbledon rain – 6-0, 7-6(3), 6-3 with a fair amount of ease and now has his eyes set on a place in the second week. He has never got beyond the third round at a Grand Slam before but, after such a promising start, he must fancy his chances of “ticking that box” (as he puts it) in the coming days.

Norrie is enjoying his elevation to the top spot in men’s tennis in Britain. This is his first appearance in SW19 as the home No.1 and, slightly more importantly, as the No.9 seed, his accommodation for The Fortnight is the Gentlemen Members’ Dressing Room in the Centre Court building. And, apparently, it’s fabulous.

“It's not as busy,” Norrie beamed. “There's less people. You have obviously all the top players there, so it feels a little bit more special. The entrance is a little bit more special. Yeah, it's pretty cool.”

This perk comes as a reward for a spectacular 18 months of work and results. He has won four titles, including his first Masters 1000 trophy in Indian Wells, and reached five further finals since the start of 2021. That level of consistency has catapulted him up the rankings, from No.74 at the start of last year to his current position.

But such talent with racket and ball is not the only string to Norrie’s bow. In another life, he could have forged a hugely successful career as a diplomat. In the days leading up to the match, he was asked about Andujar and what he thought of the coming contest.

“I would say grass is not his favourite surface,” he said carefully. “He returns very well. He can definitely play well on the surface.”

That is one way of describing Andujar’s grass court career. He is 36 years old and has been earning his corn on the professional circuit for the past two decades. And in all that time, he has won just three matches on the tricky green stuff.

He is a clay court man through and through with all four of his titles and all five of his final appearances coming on the red dirt. That would probably explain the first set, then.

Adding to Andujar’s problems was the left-handed serve coming at him. The Spaniard lost both of his previous matches here to left-handers (Adrian Mannarino and Blaz Rola) and has a losing record against lefties at both Tour level and at Grand Slams. It really was not looking like Andujar’s day.

The first set flew by with Norrie in complete control. He allowed his foe a paltry 11 points in the 23 minutes it took him to rattle through the opening six games.

It wasn’t just that lefty serve that was stymieing Andujar; it was the backhand, the relentless running, the precision of the passing shots, the returning (Andujar did not win a single point on his second serve in the opening set) – it was pretty much anything Norrie wanted to do with the ball that caused the Spaniard problems. 

For one brief moment, though, the world No.100 had hope. He broke Norrie’s serve at the start of the second set. He clenched his fist and punched the air. He had stopped the Briton’s regal procession into the second round, albeit briefly, and he was delighted with himself. And then it rained.

After a 90-minute delay, they were back on court but Norrie did not appear to have broken step. He broke back to level the score at 2-2 and was looking sharp, efficient and utterly untroubled. 

Even when Andujar challenged a line call and was proved to be correct (the ball had been called out but on review it was found to be in by a gnat’s whisker), he did not win the point. Instead, the point was replayed; Norrie welted down an ace and the Spaniard was left to fume at the change of ends. It really was not Andujar’s day. Not at all.

He managed to keep pace with Norrie for the rest of the second set but once into the tie-break, he was left in the No.9 seed’s wake. After that, there was no stopping Norrie.

Well, another rain delay after he had held three match points on the Spaniard’s serve slowed him down a little but once allowed back out to finish the job, he had the match wrapped up in two hours and two minutes. Then he headed back to his luxurious dressing room for a shower and a sit down.

“It was a tricky one obviously with the delays and having to stop and restart,” Norrie said. “Especially at the end with having a couple match points, then coming out and having to play again. It could either be five minutes or it could be three hours. I was ready for anything.

“Someone shouted, C'mon, Cam, get it done before the rain. Then I looked over, there was a huge grey cloud. After that I think I had one more match point. It's tough. You're there waiting another hour, you're on edge. You know, just had chances to finish the match.

“It's not easy. It was kind of strange for the match to come out and play five points, six points, and the match was done. Nice to break there, not have to serve it out.”

Britain’s No.1 was into round two in three sets – as easy as one, two, three.

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