After a week of overcast skies and frustrating rain delays, it was a perfect day for tennis as Cameron Norrie upset first-seeded Jordan Thompson in the singles championship. Capturing the 24th Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger singles title, Norrie also received keys to the city of Binghamton Sunday afternoon at Recreation Park. In the doubles final earlier Sunday morning, the American duo of Denis Kudla and Daniel Nguyen went on to win the title, receiving keys to the city as well.

Norrie won his career-first ATP Challenger Tour title in a match just short of two hours in the blazing heat on Center Court. The 21-year old battled through the singles bracket this past week with three upset wins, defeating third-seed Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) in the first round, eighth-seed Blaz Rola (SLO) in the quarterfinals and first-seed Thompson in the finals. Norrie joins world No. 1 Andy Murray (2005) and No. 45 Kyle Edmund (2015) as the third Brit to win a Binghamton Challenger title.

“Winning my first Challenger title in Binghamton has been great,” Norrie stated following his victory. “Thompson broke me twice in the second set and my serve was a bit off, I think it started to get to me mentally. He won some of the longer rallies where he needed to, but once I broke him in the third set and got two aces on him in the deciding game, I knew I could finish it.”

Norrie, playing in his first ATP Challenger Tour final as a professional, started the first set by taking an early three games to one lead. Thompson won the next to make it 3-2, before Norrie pulled ahead again. Thompson tried to hold him off, but Norrie took the first set 6-4.

Thompson found his groove in the second set, breaking Norrie three times as the young Brit struggled with his serve. Thompson went on to win the set six games to love, forcing a third. After a short break, Thompson came out strong in the third set as well, jumping to a quick two game lead. Norrie was able to get one back before Thompson went to take the next two, leading four games to one. In what can be described as a comeback in its truest form, Norrie then rallied to take the next four sets from No. 79
Thompson to win 6-4.

The doubles final witnessed Kudla and Nguyen battle to a straight set victory over Luke Saville (AUS) and Jarryd Chaplin (AUS), 6-3, 7-6 (5). Kudla and Nguyen cruised through the first set, taking an early lead and holding it through to a six games to three win. In the second set, however, Saville and Chaplin turned it on, as the two pairs went game for game before entering a seven point tiebreak. The American duo scored seven points to Saville and Chaplin’s five, taking the second set 7-6 (5) and their first ATP Challenger Tour doubles title together.