Britain’s Cameron Norrie is “pumped” to face world number one Carlos Alcaraz in the second round of the Paris Masters after beating Sebastian Baez in straight sets.
The world number 31 beat Argentine Baez, ranked 12 places below him, 6-3 6-4 in a match which featured six breaks of serve.
Norrie won the opening three games before having his serve broken to 15 as Baez pulled it back to 3-3.
However, the 30-year-old regrouped to win the next three games, converting his second set point.
Norrie threatened to throw away a 3-0 lead again in the second set, saving a break point in the sixth game, and later saved four more in the 10th game before closing out the match at the first opportunity.
“I was really tight going to serve for the match. I said I was going to pretend it was 0-30 and then it was 0-30 and 0-40,” Norrie told Sky Sports.
“It was about getting the job done and it was nice to face some adversity. It was not a typical match. He fought well.”
Norrie will meet Alcaraz, who exited last year’s tournament in the third round, on Tuesday, with the Spaniard playing his first match on tour since beating Taylor Fritz in the Japan Open final at the end of September.
Alcaraz has won five of their seven meetings, most recently beating Norrie in straight sets in this year’s Wimbledon quarter-finals.
Norrie’s compatriot Jacob Fearnley is in first-round action later on Monday against 12th seed Andrey Rublev.