Trailing by set and a break, Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie had to dig deep to defeat Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili and claim the Indian Wells Masters title.

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Norrie won 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 in one hour and 49 minutes but there were ominous signs when the Briton angled a backhand volley wide to surrender the early break for 2-1 in the second set.

However, a loose game from the Georgian brought the pair back level and Norrie’s supreme fitness and consistency prevailed as his opponent faded towards the end.

On a slow hard court, Norrie hit only one ace the entire match, while his opponent only managed two aces.

Basilashvili also hit 23 winners compared to Norrie’s 10 but a crucial statistic in the match was unforced errors. In this department, Norrie committed only 23 while his opponent erred a whopping 44 times.

Norrie also broke Basilashvili’s serve five times and surrendered his own deal three times.

Another crucial statistic was Norrie winning 77% (33/43) of his first serve points and Basilashvili only 56% (25/45).

Norrie is the first player from Great Britain to lift the Indian Wells trophy, achieving what former finalists Andy Murray, Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski failed to do.

Norrie is also the new British No 1 and has moved up 11 spots to a career-high No 15 in the ATP rankings.

Meanwhile on the women’s side, Spain’s Paula Badosa became the WTA Indian Wells champion in her desert debut with a hard-fought, 7-6 (7/5), 2-6, 7-6 (7/2) victory over two-time champion Victoria Azarenka.

Picture: Cameron Norrie – ATP Tour/Twitter

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