Cameron Norrie saved a match point and fought through the illness to beat the Spanish boy Martin Landaluce in the opening round of the Madrid Open.
Norrie fought for a form last year and slipped on 91 in the world, and the former British number one had no longer won ATP tour play since Indian Wells.
He was clearly unable to physically against the 19-year-old Landaluce, but his experiences to achieve a 6-7 (4) 7-5 6-4 victory.
Norrie revealed that he had to struggle with illness and said about Sky Sports: “It’s a terrible timing, but at least I have another day tomorrow to rest. Hopefully it will pass pretty quickly.”
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In an up-and-down match, Norrie lost five games in a row in a row in the opening set and then fought back in the second of 3: 0 before Landaluce just missed a big forehand of the match point.
Norrie used his opportunity to force a decisive set and a wild game of his young opponent with 4: 4.
“It is perhaps one of my favorite victories,” said Norrie, who next to Seed Jiri Lehecka next.
“I felt absolutely terrible, I was not sure if I would play, I had no energy, I didn’t sleep last night. I started very little energy and still slept on the pitch. I had to create my own energy. He actually played really well, I know that he was a really good player, so I had to fight every point.”
Norrie’s section of the draw opened due to the withdrawal on Thursday of the second seed Carlos Alcaraz.
The home favorite needed a leg injury in his Barcelona Open Final Defeat against Holger Rune on Sunday and was not sufficiently recovering.
He said to a press conference: “I am really disappointed that I can’t play here in Madrid. It is a place I love in front of my people.
“It was a really difficult situation to make really difficult to decide, but it is what it is. Sometimes you have to hear your body. I will come back more.”
Alcaraz will defend his French Open title in Paris in a month.
In the women’s draw, the defending champion Iga Swiatek revenge won for her shock Miami Open Lust against the Filipino teenager Alexandra Eala.
However, it was another difficult encounter for the poles, with 19-year-old Eala led on a set and a break before Swiatek fought back at 4-6 6-4 6-2.
The Stuttgart Champion Jelena Ostapenko gave a shock loss that spread her head-to-head advantage against Swiadek on Monday on the way to the title in Germany.
But Ostapenko fell to the Latvian Letta -Anastasija Sevastova in the first hurdle in the Spanish capital, which celebrates its second comeback in three years after maternity leave and a serious knee injury.
Elsewhere, the seventh seed Mirra Andreeva Marie Bouzkova 6-3 6: 4, while Emma Navarro defeated the Australian qualification Maya Joint 7-5 7-5.