Britain’s Cameron Norrie beats No 9 seed Diego Schwartzman in first match of the 2020 US Open

Britain’s Cam Norrie had the distinction on Monday night of playing and winning the first very long, and very strange, match of the 2020 US Open.

There was no crowd and no atmosphere but plenty of heart on show as he took down the number nine seed, Diego Schwartzman of Argentina, 3-6 4-6 6-2 6-1 7-5 in a shade under four hours.

The British number three emerged victorious from an encounter that featured a whopping 58 break points in what may prove to be a precursor to plenty of tales of the unexpected unfolding at Flushing Meadows this year.

Cameron Norrie beat Diego Schwartzman 3-6 4-6 6-2 6-1 7-5 in the US Open first round

Nobody knows quite who is going to be what sort of shape in this tournament, but by the end it was clear that Norrie has sufficient mileage in his legs.

The diminutive South American was virtually out on his feet by the end, and unravelled from 5-3 up just when it looked that the Putney-based lefthander had blown his multitude of chances.

Schwartzman won the first two sets but Norrie managed to prevail in a hard-fought encounter

Norrie saved one match point at 5-3 in the decider and another at 5-4 before sweeping to the win, with his opponent so exhausted that he looked on the verge of severe cramp. The Argentinian could not even sit down at the final changeover before Norrie managed to snatch the last and decisive break.

Any time a men’s match sees more than half a century of break points it is highly unusual. Former US college star Norrie converted 11 of his 31 while he ceded 27 to Schwartzman as he set up a second round contest against another Argentinian, Federico Coria.

‘I’m pretty tired actually,’ said Norrie. ‘ Honestly for me the tennis and the level wasn’t that great but I had a really good attitude throughout. I was happy with that. I was lucky to get through that one.’

He admitted that the number of break points was not necessarily that flattering.

It was a surreal encounter with 58 break points in a game that was played without spectators

‘I’m not sure if that’s a good stat to have. In the first couple of sets I missed so many second serve returns on the advantage side when I had break points. I was getting frustrated but I stayed patient and managed to convert way more at the end. 58 is a lot.

‘The first two sets I was rushing everything, going for too much. I was making too many errors. He’d done almost nothing to be two sets up.’

Indeed it was rarely pretty and this might be a taste of things to come, with so many players lacking in matches with the tour having been suspended until last week since early March.

Players have had to make do and mend with various exhibition events around the world, and there is going to be a disparity in preparedness. The empty stands are another factor.

Norrie admitted that he was getting frustrated in the first two sets but he was able to improve

Norrie probably owes Jamie Murray a debt due to the Scottish player’s initiative in organising the ‘Battle of the Brits’ events at Roehampton over the summer, which have helped put him in excellent shape. It was enough to give him what is comfortably the best Grand Slam win of his career.

Schwartzman led his head drop after being given a time violation in the third set, which followed Norrie escaping one for an audible obscenity, so easily heard amid the uncharacteristic quiet of what is normally the noisiest of the Majors.

Kyle Edmund was due to be the other Brit in action on Monday night, taking on Ukraine’s Alexander Bublik for the privilege of a likely second round against Novak Djokovic, who was also playing overnight.

Women’s top seed Karolina Pliskova made a successful start to her campaign when she overcame Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina 6-4 6-0.