Cameron Norrie eases into Australian Open second round despite injury worries

The 19th seed defeated Juan Pablo Varillas in straight sets to become the first British winner of the fortnight

Cameron Norrie dispelled injury worries to ease into the second round of the Australian Open.

The British number one pulled out of the ASB Classic in Auckland, the city where he grew up, last week ahead of his quarter-final because of a left wrist problem.

Norrie admitted he was concerned with so little time to recover but there were no causes for alarm in a 6-4 6-4 6-2 victory over Peru’s Juan Pablo Varillas as he became the first British winner of the fortnight.

It was a kind draw for Norrie, although 81st-ranked Varillas did push Alexander Zverev to five sets in the first round here last year before going on to make the fourth round of the French Open.

Norrie looked a little tentative to start with but settled into a rhythm of lengthy baseline rallies and finally took his sixth opportunity to break serve in the fifth game.

The 19th seed took full control of the contest in the second set, finding more penetration on his groundstrokes and opening up a 5-1 lead.

Varillas fought back with three games in a row but Norrie served it out at the second time of asking and was untroubled in the third.